Universal Credit: Housing – Parliamentary Written Answer

 Lord Bird: To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to ensure that the Universal Credit housing allocation adequately supports recipients to pay their rent.

Baroness Stedman-Scott: In April we increased Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates so that they cover 30 per cent of local rents in the Private Rented Sector. This significant investment of almost £1 billion will mean over one million households will see an increase, on average, of £600 this year. A decision on LHA rates from April 2021 will be taken prior to the start of the financial year. For those living in the Social Rented Sector, maximum housing costs support is based on actual rent and eligible service charges less any deductions for under-occupation. For those who require additional support Discretionary Housing Payments (DHPs) are available.  http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Lords/2020-10-21/HL9408

Affordable Housing: Grants – Parliamentary Written Answer

Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb: To ask Her Majesty's Government what conditions are placed on the disbursement of funds through affordable housing grants from Homes England.

Viscount Younger of Leckie: Registered providers are able to bid into the Programme for funding to build Rent to Buy and affordable rented homes; funding for Shared Ownership is also open to private providers. Registered providers can also bid for funding to deliver social rent homes in areas of high affordability pressure. The conditions guidance for the Affordable Homes Programme is published by the Department as part of its Capital Funding Guide. The funding guide can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/capital-funding-guide

http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Lords/2020-01-08/HL215

First Time Buyers – Parliamentary Written Answer

Baroness Thornhill: To ask Her Majesty's Government what are the essential differences between the existing legislation for Starter Homes and the new First Homes Initiative announced in the Queen’s Speech

Viscount Younger of Leckie: These new ‘First Homes’ will be made available at a discount of at least 30% and will be funded through developer contributions, reducing the cost to both local and national government. Unlike Starter Homes, First Homes will offer a larger discount to buyers that is retained in perpetuity, so that future generations can also benefit from the discount. Local Authorities will be able to prioritise these homes for local residents and key workers, such as nurses, teachers or police officers.

http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Lords/2020-01-07/HL178

Government Has Made No Assessment Of Case For Increasing Housing Benefit

There has been no government assessment of the case for increasing the scope of housing support, despite the sector stressing the need for investment. Crossbench peer Lord Hylton put a written Lords question as to the extent of assessment of the case for increasing both the scope and total amount of housing benefit – including any resulting savings on temporary accommodation and other costs. For the DWP, Tory peer Baroness Stedman-Scott said no assessment has been made of either case with decisions on the uprating of Local Housing Allowance from April 2020 to be “discussed later this year.” Read more on 24housing.

https://www.24housing.co.uk/news/government-has-made-no-assessment-of-case-for-increasing-housing-benefit/

Housing Associations – Parliamentary Written Answer

Baroness Kennedy of Cradley: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many social homes they estimate were sold by housing associations during the last financial year.

Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth: Between 1 April 2017 and 31 March 2018 a total of 13,086 sales of social stock including: social rented general needs, supported housing, intermediate rent and Affordable Rent and Low Cost Home Ownership (LCHO) were reported by Private Registered Provider through the Regulator of Social Housings Statistical Data Return. 9,660 sales were to tenants through various home ownership schemes and 3,426 were sales for non-social housing use.

http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Lords/2018-12-14/HL12321

Social Rented Housing – Parliamentary Written Answer

Lord Beecham: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the reduction in social housing rents on the maintenance and improvement of the existing housing stock, and on the building of new houses between now and 2022.

Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth: The fiscal impact of the social rent reduction policy on public finances was included as part of the Office for Budget Responsibility’s policy costings for Budget 2015 which can be (attached) found at https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/443195/Policy_costings_summer_budget_2015.pdf . In September 2015 the CLGcarried out an impact assessment of the effect of the social rent reduction policy on housing associations which can be (attached) found at http://www.parliament.uk/documents/impactassessments/IA15-006F.pdf .  Social housing providers are well placed to manage these reductions and have proved themselves to be more than capable of adapting and responding to change. The Government is investing £7.1 billion in the expanded Affordable Homes Programme from 2016-21, which will support housing associations and local authorities to build another 225,000 affordable homes by March 2021.

Housing Benefit: Supported Housing – Parliamentary Written Answer

Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will ensure that ring-fenced funding for local authorities will meet the shortfall between LHA rates and the cost of provision of supported housing.

What assessment they have made of the impact of the proposed application of the cap on supported housing providers based in those parts of the country where there is a significant gap between LHA rates and the cost of provision.

Lord Henley: the new funding model will ensure that the supported housing sector will be funded at the same level it would have otherwise been in 2019/20, taking into account the effect of Government policy on social sector rents.

Affordable Housing – Parliamentary Written Answer

Baroness Byford: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will take steps to ensure that new houses designated as affordable cannot be altered or extended in ways which remove them from that classification.

Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth: The Housing Act 1996 and the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008 require that new affordable homes delivered through the provision of Government Grant must remain affordable in perpetuity. Where a grant funded property is sold or undergoes a change of use, for example, from affordable housing to private rent or sale, the grant element used to build the property is then recycled for the delivery of further new affordable homes or returned to the Government. This ensures that the number of properties available through our Affordable Housing Programmes remains at a consistent level.

Landlords: Databases – Parliamentary Written Answer

Baroness Grender: To ask Her Majesty’s Government when the database of rogue landlords and property agents provided for in the Housing and Planning Act 2016 will be published. Will it include all rogue landlords who have committed an offence or only those who have been banned.?

Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth: The Government is planning to introduce the database of rogue landlords and property agents with effect from 1 October 2017. It will contain details of landlords and property agents who have been served with a banning order, or have been convicted of a banning order offence, or have received two or more civil penalties. 

Housing Completions – Parliamentary Written Answer

Asked by Lord Birt: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many new housing completions have occurred since 2010; and what is the estimated increase in the UK's population during that period.

Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth: Over 893,000 additional homes have been delivered in England since April 2010. Figures show an estimated increase of 2.1438 million in the population of England between mid-2010 and mid-2015.

Housing: Construction – House of Lords Written Answer

Lord Kennedy of Southwark: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to encourage house building on sites where planning permissions have been given for house building.

Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth: We are keen to drive up delivery of new housing once permission has been granted and we are actively taking steps to tackle some of the factors which can delay a start to development. We are taking forward measures through the Neighbourhood Planning Bill, which was introduced on 7 September, to improve the use of planning conditions to avoid unnecessary delays to development. We have also, through the Housing and Planning Act 2016, introduced a provision for a section 106 dispute resolution process. This will assist in speeding up negotiations on the content of section 106 planning obligations, where developers and local authorities have failed to reach an agreement. Secondary legislation is required to implement the provision. We also expect the members of the Home Builders Federation to adhere to their commitments in May to provide local authorities with transparent annual returns on build-out rates. And we will be setting out further measures in the forthcoming Housing White Paper.

Council Housing – Parliamentary Written Answer

Lord Beecham: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the reduction in council housing rents on new council housing and the existing stock.

Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth: Our decision on social rent reductions was based on the need to put welfare spending on a sustainable footing, whilst protecting the most vulnerable. The housing benefit bill for the social sector in England rose by a quarter over ten years, reaching £13.2 billion in 2014/15. We believe that local authorities and private registered providers will be able to find and make efficiencies to accommodate the new rent settlement. The Government remains committed to delivering 400,000 affordable housing starts by 2021.

Council Housing: Subsidies – Parliamentary Written Answer

Lord Kennedy of Southwark: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the level of subsidy from the public purse provided for council housing. 

Baroness Williams of Trafford: Local housing authorities do not receive subsidy from the Exchequer; the Localism Act 2011 abolished Housing Revenue Account Subsidy. The Housing Revenue Account Self-Financing Determinations published in 2012 provided a once and for all settlement that allows local housing authorities in England to keep all their rental income in return for a rebalancing of housing debt.

Housing: Planning Permission – House of Lords Written Answer

Lord Kennedy of Southwark: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their estimate of the number of approved planning applications for housing that have yet to be built.

Baroness Williams of Trafford: As at 1 March 2016, data provided to the department by Glenigan indicate that there were full planning permissions for 658,000 homes in England on sites on which work had either not yet started or completed. Of these around 55,000 (8 per cent) were on unstarted sites granted permission more than three years ago. Typically permissions for these homes will have expired.

Housing Estates: Regeneration – Parliamentary Written Answer

Lord Kennedy of Southwark: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what budgets and programmes have been established since 2014 to help the regeneration of council housing estates.  

Baroness Williams of Trafford: A total of £290 million of loan funding has been allocated by the Government to help the regeneration of local authority housing estates. The first tranche of this funding was announced jointly between the Greater London Authority and the Department for Communities and Local Government on 13 June 2014, and the second was announced by the my rt. hon. Friend, the Prime Minister on 11 January 2016.

Homelessness: Finance – House of Lords Written Answer

Baroness King of Bow: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the announcement in the Autumn Statement, what level of funding will be made available to local authorities in 2017–18 to replace the management fee currently paid for each homeless household in temporary accommodation.

Baroness Williams of Trafford: The Spending Review and Autumn Statement announced that funding of the Temporary Accommodation management fee will be devolved to local authorities from 2017/18, giving them more freedom and flexibility in how they use this funding. Current levels of funding will be maintained and, in addition, councils will receive £10 million a year more.

Right to Buy Scheme: Housing Associations – House of Lords Written Answer

Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what the average right to buy discount is expected to be for housing association tenants outside London; and whether they will break this data down by local authority area.

Baroness Williams of Trafford: Working with the National Housing Federation, the Government has secured an historic agreement with housing associations to give their tenants the opportunity to buy their home with Right to Buy discounts equivalent to those enjoyed by Council tenants, up to a maximum discount of 70% of market value, or £77,900 (£103,900 in London), whichever is lower. This will deliver the manifesto commitment to extend the benefits of Right to Buy to 1.3million housing association tenants.

Right to Buy Scheme: Housing Associations – Parliamentary Written Answer

Asked by Lord Dear: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether a Community Land Trust under the proposed Right to Buy scheme is required to sell one of the houses it owns if it is unable to provide an alternative from (1) its existing stock, (2) its newly built stock, (3) the stock it will build in the future or (4) the stock of another housing association.

Baroness Williams of Trafford: Under the voluntary agreement with the National Housing Federation, there would be a presumption that housing associations would sell the tenant the property in which they live, but there would be some broad circumstances where a housing association could exercise discretion to decline a sale. These circumstances include properties held in the Communities Land Trust.

Right to Buy Scheme – Parliamentary Written Answer

Asked by Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many homes sold under the Right to Buy scheme since 2000 have been replaced; and whether they will place the figures for each year since 2000 in the Library of the House.

Baroness Williams of Trafford: In the first year (2012/13) following the reinvigoration of Right to Buy by the last Government, there were 3,054 additional homes sold. By the end of Q1 2015/16 there were 3,644 new starts and acquisitions. Councils have three years to replace the additional homes sold.

Council Housing – Lords Written Answer

Lord Beecham: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the decision to cut social housing rents on the maintenance of existing council housing stock and the number of new council houses likely to be built in the short, medium, and long term.

Baroness Williams of Trafford: We made a commitment in the Summer Budget to reduce social rents in England by one per cent a year for four years from April 2016. This will help protect tenants from rising housing costs whilst protecting taxpayers from the rising costs of subsidising rents through housing benefit. We are confident that local authorities and private registered providers will be able to find and make efficiencies to accommodate the new rent settlement while meeting their Decent Homes responsibilities. The Government remains committed to delivering 275,000 affordable homes over the course of this Parliament.