A future Labour government will place less emphasis on home ownership when renting from social or private landlords is a better option, shadow housing minister Alison Seabeck has said.

Speaking at the Chartered Institute of Housing's (CIH) annual conference, Ms Seabeck said it was important to understand the precise needs of people on housing waiting lists, and establish why they are there.

She acknowledged that a safety net was needed in the form of council or housing association homes. "We don't want to see social housing whittled away and left as a tenure of last resort," she said.

But she also called for greater fairness on allocations, and said an expansion of private rented housing might be the best solution for some households. "For many people, home ownership may not be the best option," she told conference delegates in Harrogate. "We need to deliver a private rented sector that's a long way from the 'Rachmanite' tendencies of the past."

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Ms Seabeck admitted that the record of the past Labour government on housing was not perfect, but said the time for ‘mea culpa’ was over. The party was not rushing into a review of housing policies, partly because it was impossible to forecast the financial situation that would face the government in 2014 or 2015 - the likely date of the next general election.

"Housing is about to move up the political agenda for the wrong reasons," she said. "Policies may have to be honed and changed according to circumstances."

In addition to recognising a range of housing tenures, the party would also ensure that homes were built "on the right sites in the right places" and that development programmes were less London-centric.

It was important that Labour's policy was developed away from the "Westminster bubble", said Ms Seabeck, urging housing professionals to get in touch with her. "We won’t rush to produce nice soundbites," she said. "We want to make sure that Labour's next housing policy is a sustained piece of work."

(CD)