HOUSING proposals need to go further than those in the 2017 Labour manifesto to ensure that secure and affordable homes become a “human right,” the party’s conference heard today.

Kate Dove, Young Labour national committee’s North representative, was applauded by delegates when she demanded that the next Labour government should legislate for “open-ended tenancies” and rent caps at rates linked to local incomes.

She said that future Labour ministers should also give councils the power to take housing associations and empty homes under council control.