A Housing Policy in Disarray

To a large extent, the few housing policy announcements made at recent Labour and Tory conferences have been eclipsed by changes in the housing brief announced by both main parties in Monday’s ministerial and shadow ministerial reshuffles. All the same, Kris Hopkins, MP for Keighley, has been appointed housing minister, taking over from Mark Prisk, who was axed after just over a year in the role. Hopkins joins the CLG as an undersecretary of state, suggesting the role of housing minister has been demoted in the government’s ministerial hierarchy and reinforcing the impression that chancellor George Osborne is running housing policy from the Treasury.  Wolverhampton MP Emma Reynolds has replaced Jack Dromey as Labour’s shadow housing minister. Worryingly for the housing and construction sectors, these changes may signal downgrading of housing policy at a time when housing is growing in importance in the public’s mind. Read more on the Left Foot Forward blog.

Labour Conference: Housing Round-Up

Housing will become a "great national priority" under a Labour government, said shadow housing minister Jack Dromey at the Labour party conference – and the range of plans that emerged appeared to support that. After a long policy silence, Labour announced a string of housing plans, including;

• Increase housebuilding rates to 200,000 a year by 2020
• Use-it-or-lose-it deals for developers
• Mansion tax
• Cities given the 'right to grow'
• Repeal the bedroom tax
• Scrapping the affordable rent programme
• … but the right-to-buy will remain

For more details of these plans go to the Guardian website.

Dromey Reveals Development Detail

Labour has commissioned pilot projects to examine ways councils can work more closely with housing associations and developers as part of its pledge to double house building by 2020. Jack Dromey, shadow housing minister, said these would include the formation of new local housing com­panies which could help a Labour government deliver the pledge made by leader Ed Miliband this week to build 200,000 new homes a year. Read more on Inside Housing.

Déjà Vu as Housing Statistics Prompt Political Blame Game

Conservative and Labour politicians have accused each other of delivering the fewest new homes since the 1920s in the wake of the latest CLG figures that show a 7% rise in starts over the last year, but a 9% drop in completions.

 “David Cameron’s Government has presided over the lowest level of homes built than any other peacetime Government since the 1920s,” said shadow housing minister Jack Dromey. But communities minister Brandon Lewis said: “Today’s figures clearly show government action is bringing confidence back into the housing market and getting Britain building again, with starts increasing by a third year-on-year.”  Read more on the Housing Excellence website.

Dromey: Labour Will Oppose Section 106 Axe

Labour will oppose the ‘weakening’ of section 106 agreements and is in favour of grant funding for social housing, the shadow housing minister has said.  In a speech to the National Housing Federation conference in Birmingham, Jack Dromey said Labour will put housing, jobs and growth ‘centre-stage’.  Mr Dromey attacked the government for allowing section 106 agreements, which require developers to include affordable housing in developments, to be waived where schemes are unviable.  He said: ‘It is absolutely wrong for the government to rob communities and councils of their ability to use section 106 to insist on affordable house building in any development.  ‘We cannot have, especially in our big cities, this dangerous drift [towards] the residualisation of social housing.’ Read more on Inside Housing.

Housing – Parliamentary Debate

Jack Dromey (Birmingham, Erdington) (Lab): I beg to move, 

That this House notes that England faces a housing crisis; further notes with concern that housing starts, including for affordable housing, are down, and that homelessness and rough sleeping have increased under this Government; further notes that the collapse in house building and contraction in construction are a major cause of the double-dip recession; believes that the Government needs to take urgent action to get the economy and house building going again; and calls on the Government to introduce a tax on bankers’ bonuses to fund the building of 25,000 additional affordable homes, to bring forward infrastructure investment, including for housing, and to cut VAT on home improvements, repairs and maintenance to five per cent for one year to help homeowners and create jobs.  Let me start by welcoming the new Housing Minister, the hon. Member for Hertford and Stortford (Mr Prisk), to his post.  Read more of this debate on the House of Commons website.

Housing Benefit – Parliamentary Written Answer

Jack Dromey: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer of 14 June 2012, Official Report, column 600W, on housing benefit, whether the increase in expenditure on housing benefit since the original impact assessment from the affordable rent model will be funded from the Homes and Communities Agency's budget.

Grant Shapps: Housing providers' response to the Affordable Homes programme exceeded our original expectations. As a result, we now expect to be able to deliver 80,000 new affordable homes through the Affordable Homes programme, compared to our expectation of 56,000 at the time of the affordable rent impact assessment.  This positive response means that we now expect to deliver a total of 170,000 new affordable homes over this spending review period, through a total investment of £19.5 billion public and private funding.

Council Housing – Parliamentary Written Answer

Jack Dromey: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate he has made of how many council tenants sub-let their council homes; and what statistical basis his Department uses to make such an estimate.

Grant Shapps: The Audit Commission estimated in 2009 there were at least 50,000 unlawfully occupied social homes in England; however, it has noted:

'the need for more research to get a clearer picture of the prevalence and cost of housing tenancy fraud, particularly for the three-quarters of social housing outside London'  More recent analysis carried out by consultancy Experian Public Services suggests the figure could be more than 150,000 in practice (“Experian press release”, 12 September 2011).  Further research by housing fraud specialists, HJK Associates, has suggested that 160,000 social housing tenants in London alone may be subletting their properties (cited in The Sunday Telegraph, 22 January 2012).  We have recently consulted on proposals that would strengthen legislation around social housing fraud. A summary of responses will be published in due course.

Social Rented Housing – Parliamentary Written Answer

Jack Dromey: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what consideration he has given to the potential loss of economies of scale of his Department's Tenant Cashback scheme.

Grant Shapps: Under Tenant Cashback, social tenants that take pride in their homes by taking on routine repairs and maintenance should be able to share in any savings made. Similarly, community groups that take control of communal services, saving the landlord money by delivering a more efficient service, should be able to decide how to reinvest the savings to fund improvements to the local area for the benefit of all residents.  Social housing should act as a springboard to help people make better lives for themselves. The experience of current pilot schemes is showing that Tenant Cashback can bring tenants an increasing sense of ownership over their homes and communities, together with real practical benefits such as new skills for tenants, while landlords are seeing a significant reduction in the number of repairs reported.  Our approach allows social landlords to design schemes in consultation with tenants. Landlords can consider the scope for economies of scale alongside the other benefits and efficiencies that can arise through enabling tenants to commission work or to carry it out themselves.  The scheme can help save money for landlords and allow local residents to earn extra cash.

Dromey Writes To Statistics Chief Over Grant Shapps

Grant Shapps stands accused of misleading the media, the public, and parliament about the extent of the housing crisis by Labour after his shadow Jack Dromey wrote to the head of the UK Statistics Authority. The letter raises questions over the housing minister’s use of statistics to obscure the depth of the housing crisis. Dromey asks about alleged misrepresentations by Shapps about the supply of homes between 1997-2010, affordable homes built in the last 18 years, rough sleeping, the cost of self-builds, and the number of houses being built in the UK.  In one case, Shapps told parliament the number of houses starting to be built in England were rising by 25% 2011 compared to 2009, despite government statistics showing annual housing starts were down 4% in 2011 from the previous year.  "I am deeply concerned that this casual attitude to accuracy is not only confusing to the public but it is obstructing genuine public debate. Furthermore, it undermines legitimate calls for real action to deals with our nation's housing and homelessness crisis," he writes.  Read more on the Huffington Post website.

Labour Strategy to Target Private Rented Sector

Labour will soon be launching tough proposals for the private rented sector, shadow housing minister Jack Dromey told delegates at a homelessness conference.  Mr Dromey said the PRS strategy would be a ‘radically different model’ from the Conservative policy and he would ‘make it work’.  ‘The outcome we want is a sector good for tenants and good for reputable landlords, and a more suitable long term market which levers in institutional investment,’ he said in a speech at single homeless people’s charity Crisis’ annual conference in London. He would not give any details about the proposals but said they were likely to be unveiled in July and hinted they would be the first of more housing strategies to come from Labour. ‘Watch this space,’ he said.  Read more on Inside Housing.

Councils Asked To Reveal Numbers of Displaced LHA Claimants

Labour’s Shadow Housing Minister and Shadow Minister for London have written to all London councils asking them to clarify how many homeless people are being housed outside the capital.  The London borough of Newham revealed on Tuesday that it had written to over 1,000 housing associations around the country – including one in Stoke-on-Trent – in an attempt to find temporary accommodation for homeless families.  Jack Dromey MP and Tessa Jowell MP have written to all London boroughs in a bid to see the “full picture”.  Mr Dromey, who has also written to Housing Minister Grant Shapps on the matter, said: "Britain is facing a growing housing crisis and the Government appears to be completely out of touch with the impact on families.”  Reacting to Newham Council’s move to seek temporary accommodation in Stoke-on-Trent, Grant Shapps told the BBC it was “unfair and wrong” and that councils had been advised “not to do this”.  Read more on 24dash.

Dromey: Labour Government Would Keep Housing Grant

Jack Dromey has hinted that a Labour administration would increase or maintain central government grant levels for new homes.  The shadow housing minister said he considers the coalition’s affordable rent product at up to 80 per cent of market rent to be an ‘Orwellian notion’ as the product is not affordable to many people. The coalition slashed capital funding for new social homes from £8.4 billion to £4.4 billion for the 2011-15 spending review period, with just £1.8 billion of uncommitted funding available for new affordable homes.  The government has instead allowed landlords to charge ‘affordable’ rents at up to 80 per cent of market levels to boost their borrowing.  Mr Dromey said that Labour would not ‘simply accept the affordable rent model’ and is committed to social rents.  Read more on Inside Housing.

Shapps ‘In Denial’ On Homelessness

Shadow Housing Minister Jack Dromey has accused Grant Shapps of failing to tackle homelessness, claiming the minister is “in denial”.  New research published by Homeless Link warned that a rising demand, combined with cuts in homelessness services could lead to a crisis situation.  Dromey said: “We knew homelessness rose by 14% and rough sleeping by 23% in 2011. Now this report shows the full failure of a complacent Housing Minister to tackle homelessness.”  Mr Dromey accused the Government of “failing the vulnerable” as the number of homeless people keeps rising and fewer of them move into jobs and into housing.  He said:  “Grant Shapps’ complacent response has been to say that homelessness remains at historically low levels. What he doesn’t say is that that is because homelessness fell 70% under Labour. Grant Shapps is in denial. He claims that tackling homelessness and rough sleeping are what first got him into politics. Since becoming Housing Minister the decisions he has made have made homelessness rise.”  Last year, the housing minister claimed it was “misleading” to link the sharp increase in homelessness with cuts in housing benefits.  Read more on 24dash.

Dromey Questions Cameron Over Rent Claim

Jack Dromey is considering asking questions in the House of Commons about David Cameron’s controversial claim that rents are falling. The Prime Minister told the House of Commons that rents are falling as a result of his government’s welfare reforms. The claim was immediately disputed by housing professionals. The shadow housing minister has written to the prime minister asking him to justify his claims in the house or correct his statement. Number 10 has since said there are cases of private landlords reducing their rent in return for direct payment of local housing allowance, but it has not provided evidence to back this up. Read more on Inside Housing.

Dromey Calls on Cameron to Correct Rent Claim

Shadow housing minister Jack Dromey has called on David Cameron to correct a statement he made in the House of Commons where he claimed that housing benefit cuts brought in by the Government have brought down rent levels across the country. The claim is contrary to current evidence which suggests rents across the country are soaring. Mr Dromey said: "What planet does David Cameron live on. There is no evidence that rents are falling. On the contrary, every survey including that conducted by Shelter demonstrates that private rents continue to soar. We will be asking No 10 to correct the statement made by the Prime Minister to the House of Commons which is clearly wrong." Read more on 24dash.

Dromey Slams 'Tenant Abuse'

Shadow housing minister Jack Dromey has reiterated the Labour Government's intention to regulate the private rented sector (PRS) after he said the abuse of tenants shown in Channel 4's Landlords from Hell programme was 'truly shocking'. Mr Dromey said: “The abuse of tenants that was highlighted was truly shocking. Rather than taking decisive action to tackle bad landlords, this out of touch Government has labelled protections for tenants as “red tape”. More and more people live in privately rented homes. New research shows that rents are soaring and a growing amount of tenants face abuse. Labour introduced a national register of landlords, regulation of letting and managing agents and compulsory written tenancy agreements, all scrapped by Grant Shapps.” Read more on 24dash.

Benn to Shadow Pickles In Milliband Reshuffle

Hilary Benn will be facing Eric Pickles at the dispatch box after his appointment as Communities and Local Government Secretary in Labour’s shadow cabinet reshuffle. Benn replaces Caroline Flint who moves to the energy and climate change portfolio. Former Housing Minister John Healey has left the opposition front benches, and Alison Seabeck has lost the housing brief she previously held, becoming Shadow Defence Minister. Seabeck said that the housing review she was working on with Caroline Flint has already been submitted to Ed Miliband. Seabeck is replaced by Jack Dromey. Dromey is MP for Birmingham Erdington, entering parliament in 2010 after a career of more than three decades in the trade union movement. The husband of Deputy Leader of the Labour Party Harriet Harman, Dromey was a member of the policy forum that produced Labour's 2007 Green Paper ‘Homes for the future: more affordable, more sustainable’ in 2007. He is also a supporter of the pressure group Defend Council Housing. The full shadow communities and local government team is:
Rt Hon Hilary Benn MP
Jack Dromey MP
Helen Jones MP
Roberta Blackman-Woods MP
Chris Williamson MP
Lord (Bill) McKenzie
Lord (Sir Jeremy) Beecham

New Shadow Housing Secretary Vows to Put Council Housing 'Centre Stage'

Labour’s new shadow housing minister has said the party would restore regional planning if put in power at the next election. Jack Dromey, who has been confirmed as shadow to housing minister Grant Shapps, told Building that he had been asked by Labour leader Ed Miliband to put “housing centre stage” as Labour looks to rebuild support. Dromey also said that Labour would put a new era of council house building at the centre of his policies. Dromey said: “The government was absolutely crazy to abolish Regional Spatial Strategies (RSSs) and Regional Development Agencies. We are now the only country in western Europe without effective regional and sub-regional planning. We need to address that.” Read more on the Building website.

New Homes Bonus Will 'Send Money South'

An incentive for councils to complete more new homes looks almost certain to take money away from authorities in the north and redistribute it to southern counterparts, which in general are in less need of such a helping hand. The New Homes Bonus offers similar incentives across the country; and it draws its 'bonus' from the overall local government spending pot; the sort of redistribution of existing public money which became familiar with assorted 'new' initiatives under Labour. The issue is highlighted by the Northern Housing Consortium which calculates that a north-south transfer of such funds could be as high as £101 million over the next three years. Newcastle faces a net loss of over £5 million and its neighbour Gateshead £4.4 million. The latter's income from NHB in the first year is a mere £68,283 according to the government's own calculator on the New Homes Bonus website which gives an indication of the mismatch, especially when London politicians such as Labour's Jack Dromey are arguing that the bonus isn't enough to encourage the scale of new housing the capital needs. Westminster, by contrast, is getting £1,638,472. Read more on the Guardian website.