Housing – Parliamentary Debate

Hilary Benn (Leeds Central) (Lab): I beg to move,

That this House notes that the Government has failed to tackle the acute housing shortage which is central to the cost of living crisis and over the last three years has presided over the lowest level of new homes built since the 1920s, with home ownership falling, rents at record highs and rising faster than wages and a record five million people in the queue for social housing; further notes that net housing supply under this Government has fallen to its lowest level since records began, and that affordable housing supply dropped in the last year by 26 per cent, homes built for social rent dropped to a 20-year low, while there has been a 104 per cent increase in in-work housing benefit claimants since 2009; believes that the Government should take action to tackle the housing shortage; and calls on the Government to boost housing supply by reforming the development industry and introducing measures to tackle landbanking, bringing forward plans to deliver a new generation of New Towns and Garden Cities and giving local authorities a new right to grow to deliver the homes their communities need.

Read more of this debate on Hansard.

Housing Benefit – Parliamentary Written Answer

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment he has made of the likely effect of changes to the payment of housing benefit on the ability of registered landlords to borrow for housing investment; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Prisk: The CLG is working alongside the DWP to ensure that universal credit is designed in a way that protects social landlords' financial position. To help achieve this, we are working closely with a group of social landlords and local authorities from six areas across the country on the direct payment demonstration projects, to test the impact of paying housing benefit direct to tenants.  A key aim of the demonstration projects is to explore the best safeguards to protect tenants and social landlords from the risk of increases in rent arrears. The projects are also helping local authorities and housing associations understand how they need to prepare for the introduction of universal credit. We intend to use the evidence gathered from the projects to inform the design of universal credit, including consideration of safeguards that would best protect the financial position of social landlords and reduce the risk of tenants falling into debt.  Read more on the Hansard website.

Written Ministerial Statements - Empty Homes

On 10 May, the Minister for Housing, Mr Mark Prisk, gave a written update to the House of Commons on progress the Government has made in getting empty homes back into use.  Read the full statement on the Hansard website.

Homelessness: Veterans – Parliamentary Written Answer

Mr Jim Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what steps his Department has taken to prevent homelessness among veterans.

Grant Shapps: This Government are committed to preventing and tackling homelessness and protecting the most vulnerable, including among veterans. The Ministerial Working Group on Homelessness will shortly publish its second report on preventing homelessness which will include veterans. The latest figures from CHAIN highlight that only 4% of rough sleepers from the UK have experience of the armed forces.  I am determined to ensure that current and former members of the armed forces gain the housing they deserve, recognising the sacrifices they have made for the country. I have therefore introduced measures to place members of the armed forces at the top of the priority list for home ownership schemes, including FirstBuy and instructing special agents to visit military bases to promote such schemes. We are also working with credit reference agencies and Royal Mail to standardise forces' post office addresses so personnel are not disadvantaged when applying for mortgages.  We have also recently finished consulting on proposals to change the law to make it easier for service personnel to access social housing so that former personnel with urgent housing needs are always given high priority on waiting lists, and that personnel who move from base to base do not lose their qualification rights. Under Part 7 of the Housing Act 1996 priority need is granted to a person who is vulnerable as a result of having been a member of Her Majesty's regular naval, military or air forces.

Response edited, read the full answer in Hansard by clicking on the link below.

New Homes Bonus Not Fit For Purpose

The latest planning application figures published by CLG give little comfort to the view that we are seeing a resurgent housebuilding sector emerging on the back of the New Homes Bonus and generous government support to the housebuilding industry. It is of course hard to disentangle the NHB impact given the data is not readily available and it sits at odds with the more traditional housing starts and completions data sets.  The Hansard record of the debates point up the fact that the NHB output includes empty homes coming back into use  and a large number of new one bedroom flats which seem either to be conversions of existing larger  and possibly multi-occupied homes plus new student residences.  Either way the evidence regarding the incentive effects of NHB are very poor to date raising the question about whether it is fit for purpose as a central plank of housing supply policy. Read more of this blog post on the Red Brick blog.