Flint: Ban Benefit Payments for Substandard Homes

Private landlords whose homes do not meet minimum energy efficiency standards should be not be able to house tenants on housing benefit, the shadow energy secretary has argued. Speaking at an event hosted by Aldersgate Group, Caroline Flint called for a register of private landlords to ensure tenants receiving benefits are not placed in poorly insulated homes. ‘The state should not be subsidising substandard housing, or lining the pockets of those irresponsible landlords, who fail to make sure their homes are warm and properly insulated,’ she said. Ms Flint argued that such a move would also create employment by forcing landlords to improve their homes, and reduce fuel poverty by cutting bills. The government has introduced legislation to ban landlords from letting homes in the lowest categories for energy efficiency, however this is not due to come into force until 2018. Ms Flint also warned the government’s green deal initiative, which will see installers upgrade the energy efficiency of homes at no up front cost in return for a cut of the energy bills savings, could fail unless the Green Investment Bank is used to subsidise the scheme. Read more on the Aldersgate Group website.

FIT Cuts Are ‘Idiotic’ and Will Hit Social Housing

The Shadow Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change has attacked the Government over the change to feed-in-tariffs that will “end solar power for social housing”. Speaking in the House of Commons, Caroline Flint MP criticised the move which will see feed-in tariff payments cut by more than half from December. She said: “[The Opposition] regrets that the Government’s plans would exclude nearly nine out of ten households from installing solar power under the feed-in tariffs scheme, [which] will disproportionately hit social housing and community projects.” Mrs Flint said: “Let us get serious. We have a cut of more than 50% with just six weeks’ notice. Is that reasonable? Is that fair? Is that sustainable? I suggest that it is not.” 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

Labour Will Provide Security in Private Rental Sector, Says Flint

Caroline Flint has promised to stop landlords with tenants in sub-standard properties from receiving housing benefit. The shadow communities and local government secretary said the private rental sector would be "properly regulated" under Labour so that every family renting had "security and choice", but gave no firm details about how this would be done. She confirmed the party's commitment to "a decent home for all, at a price within their means, in a place they want to live". "To the many people who want to own their home, who want to build an asset, who want security, who want a little more control over their own life, we will support that dream," Flint told the Labour conference in Liverpool. Labour is proposing to levy a tax on bankers' bonuses to fund the building of 25,000 homes, and cut VAT on home improvements to 5%. Read more on the Guardian website.

Housing ASBO Proposed For Troublesome Families

A former housing minister is proposing the introduction of ‘housing asbos’ which would evict troublesome families and ban them from living within five miles of their former home. Caroline Flint, current shadow communities secretary, made the proposition in ‘The Purple Book, a progressive future for Labour’ – a collection of fresh policy ideas from a number of Labour heavyweights including Ed Miliband, Liam Byrne and Peter Mandelson. Ms Flint likened the so-called ‘hasbos’ to crackhouse closures where properties are reported for drug dealing and a closure order is obtained by police. Read more about The Purple Book on its website.

Labour: Workers to Get Social Housing Priority

The Labour Party is drawing up a national housing policy that will give people with jobs priority for a social home. The opposition party gave the first indications of its future housing policy ahead of next month’s annual conference in Liverpool in an article written exclusively for Inside Housing. In it shadow communities secretary Caroline Flint attempted to place clear water between Labour’s approach to social housing and that of the coalition government. She said councils would be able to use social housing to reward people in work and create mixed communities. Read more on Inside Housing.

Flint: 'Housing Crisis Won't Be Solved By Empty Offices Plan'

Shadow communities secretary Caroline Flint has hit out at the coalition's plans to make it easier for businesses to "by-pass" the planning system. During the Commons debate on the Budget, she said that while ministers claimed they wanted to give people more of a say about planning matters, its policies did the opposite. More greenfield sites will be developed as the Government has ditched targets for building on previously-used land, while proposals for 200,000 new homes had been dropped, she added. Turning to communities secretary Eric Pickles, she said: "This Budget was crying out for ministers to support housing. It didn't happen. But all this Budget has come up with is the idea to allow commercial properties to be turned into homes without requiring planning permission. If you really believe that the answer to this country's housing crisis is turning some empty offices into luxury penthouses, or asking people to live in disused out-of-town business parks or derelict warehouses on industrial estates, then you had better think again." Read more on 24dash.

Pickles Forced To Defend 'More Than 100 New Powers' In Localism Bill

Eric Pickles has hailed the Government's flagship Localism Bill as a "triumph for democracy over bureaucracy" but was forced to defend the number of new powers the legislation will hand to him. He said it would shift power away from Whitehall and back to individuals, communities and councils. But Labour denounced the Bill as a "sham". Shadow communities secretary Caroline Flint said "This is a Bill that empowers one person - the Secretary of State." Labour's Toby Perkins (Chesterfield) asked: "If this is all about giving away powers from Whitehall, could you explain why in this Bill there will be 126 new powers transferred to yourself?" Mr Pickles said: "I have politely pointed out that in previous Bills, much smaller Bills, the proportion of delegated legislation was much higher when the Labour Party was running these matters." And he insisted: "The numbers contained within this Bill are entirely the norm, entirely the way in which our legislation has been put together and with one important difference - this is a deregulating Bill." The Bill has gained its second reading by 329 votes to 227 - a government majority of 102. Read more on 24dash.

'Sham Localism Bill Will Give Ministers Over 100 New Powers', Warns Flint

Labour has denounced the Government's flagship Localism Bill as a "sham", claiming it will give ministers more than 100 new powers over local authorities, while placing new burdens on councils. Communities Secretary Eric Pickles said the Bill will shift power from central government into the hands of individuals, communities and councils around England. But his Labour shadow Caroline Flint said that the Bill would in fact hand Mr Pickles a range of new powers including:
*Setting the timing of mayoral elections and shortening the length of a mayor's term;
*Regulating the appointment of assistants to elected mayors;
*Forcing a council to switch from a committee system to a mayor and cabinet, or directing it to hold a referendum on such a change;
*Setting principles on what constitutes an "excessive" rise in council tax;
*Setting the threshold for petitions to trigger a local referendum.
Read more on 24dash.

Council Housing: Surveys – Parliamentary Written Answer

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for CLG when he expects to announce his plans for the future of the NI160 Status Survey Grant
Grant Shapps: I wrote to local authority chief executives on 10 August 2010 setting out that, as part of the Government's commitment to reducing centrally imposed burdens, stock holding local authorities would no longer be required to complete the Status survey or report against National Indicator 160 on local authority tenants' satisfaction with landlord services. Along with the Place Survey, these were expensive and burdensome cosmetic exercises. Instead, the new Government will be strengthening social tenants rights of redress.

Flint Slams Coalition's 'Gun to the Head' Localism

Shadow Communities minister Caroline Flint has slammed the Government's localism proposals, labelling them "cynical" and "unfair". Responding to the publication of the Localism Bill she said the Government's plans ring hollow when at the same time they are cutting local government by 27% on average over the next four years. She said: “The Tories’ belief in localism is cynical and unfair. It’s offering councils devolution while holding a gun to their head. “Labour is in favour of giving people a greater say in the way their local communities and services are run. Some aspects of the Localism Bill build on reforms we made to local government in recent years. The reality is though the coalition's decision to hit lower and middle income neighbourhoods with the heaviest cuts in the next twelve months will inevitably impact on the vital frontline services families rely on, jobs and growth. The most deprived communities look set to lose out most from the government’s decisions on grants and council tax, while councils in the most prosperous areas are favoured.” Read more on 24dash.

Affordable Housing Is Key to Cutting Benefit Bill

Shadow work and pensions minister Douglas Alexander has admitted he is in favour of cutting housing benefit payments, ahead of a crucial vote on the topic. In a speech on Friday, Mr Alexander said he was ‘not against caps in the housing benefit system’, but said the speed of cuts to the payments to social and private tenants would risk increasing homelessness. He said he would consider phased reductions in payments over a number of years. Caroline Flint, shadow CLG secretary, said: ‘Labour is in favour of reforming housing benefit. But it must be the right sort of reform. We’ll work with the government, but not on the basis of rushed changes and easy headlines. The government's plans will do nothing to tackle the real cause of the rising housing benefits bill: the shortage of affordable homes. Whether it's a first-time buyer struggling to get a foot on the property ladder, or a family looking for somewhere to settle, or the housing benefits bill, what's at the root of all these problems is a lack of affordable housing” Read more on the Guardian website.

Miliband Announces Shadow CLG Team

The Labour Party has announced the MPs who will work with Caroline Flint to shadow the CLG.  Alison Seabeck, Barbara Keeley, Jack Dromey, and Chris Williamson will work alongside Ms Flint, who was handed the job of shadow communities secretary last week. The party has not yet announced which of the MPs will take on the shadow housing brief. Mr Dromey, the MP for Birmingham, Erdington, has been a prominent advocate of the need for more affordable housing and supporter of pressure group Defend Council Housing.  Read more on Inside Housing.