Labour calls for prioritisation of high-quality, zero-carbon, truly affordable homes after Jenrick scandal

In the wake of the Westferry ‘Cash for Favours’ Scandal, Labour has today demanded the Government halt plans to give extended housebuilding and planning powers to under-fire Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick. 

Today’s demand follows reports that the Government is considering radical plans to hand powers for major housing developments to the embattled Housing Secretary and extending the use of permitted development for conversion of commercial units for residential use.

Labour has warned that the move would jeopardise the building of new affordable homes and amounts to a “land grab” on the planning system. Labour is also concerned that this could signal pulling back on the commitment to making sure existing homes are well-insulated and energy efficient, both of which make many homes even more unaffordable.

Correspondence between Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick and billionaire developer Richard Desmond show that the Secretary of State helped the developer remove affordable housing from a planned scheme and avoid up to £50 million in tax. 

Labour’s Shadow Housing Secretary Thangam Debbonaire has today called for a stronger focus on investing in high-quality, truly affordable housing which create good jobs and help meet our carbon emissions reductions target, within the planning system.

Thangam Debbonaire MP, Labour’s Shadow Housing Secretary, said:

“The Westferry scandal shows that for all their fancy language, the Tories are simply prioritising the demands of housing developers at the expense of people who need affordable homes.

“The arrogance of Robert “three-homes” Jenrick proposing a roll-out of ill-adapted rabbit hutches is staggering – permitted development has been shown to be a failure and this is just another example of the Tories doing favours for their property developer mates. Meanwhile, our climate change targets are urgent, and there are millions of existing homes which need insulation and energy efficiency. 

“Instead of thinking about housing developers’ business interests, the government should be focusing on the millions of people who see home ownership as an impossible dream, or the many key workers who have been stuck for years on council housing waiting lists and invest in high-quality, truly affordable homes which are well insulated and energy efficient and help to meet our zero-carbon emissions targets.”

Ends

Notes to editors

·       According to research from the GLA, of the 15,929 new homes built through permitted development in London between 2013 and 2019, only 71 were defined as “affordable” – just 0.4%, meaning that London has missed out on 5,504 affordable homes (based on the current 35% minimum threshold on privately owned land). https://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/slums-of-the-future-permitted-development-conversions-in-london-by-tom-copley-am.pdf

·       Developers are sitting on more than 420,000 homes with planning permission. https://www.localgov.co.uk/Developers-sitting-on-more-than-420000-homes-with-planning-permission/44748

·       The Tories have received more than £11m from property developers since Boris Johnson became prime minister, an investigation has found.https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/tory-party-property-developer-boris-johnson-conservative-donors-a9588381.html

·       The Starter Homes initiative was widely criticised for delivering no houses despite earmarking £2.3 billion in 2015, precisely none had been built by time of the General Election in 2019, four years later.  https://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Investigation-into-starter-homes.pdf

·       Before the coronavirus pandemic there were 4.75 million households in ‘housing stress’, according to the independent Affordable Housing Commission. This is likely to increase as many people lose earnings. https://www.affordablehousingcommission.org/

·       In June 2020, Housing Federation England and more than 40 other organisations launched the ‘Homes At Heart’ campaign for 145,000 socially-owned homes per year as part of the economic recovery from the Covid-19 crisis, included in a letter to Rishi Sunak.

·       The cross-party Local Government Association (LGA) found that for every £1 invested in social housing there is a return of £2.84 on investment. Each social home saves £780 per year in Housing Benefit alone. https://www.local.gov.uk/delivery-council-housing-stimulus-package-post-pandemic

·       The Affordable Housing Commission (2020) found that 4.8 million households are in housing which is unaffordable. https://www.affordablehousingcommission.org/news/2020/3/23/making-housing-affordable-again-rebalancing-the-nations-housing-system-the-final-report-of-the-affordable-housing-commission

·       The call for evidence page of the 2020 inquiry by the Environmental Audit Committee on Energy Efficiency of Existing Homes said that ‘driving widespread improvements in energy efficiency is notoriously difficult. Yet energy efficiency investments could be particularly relevant to kick starting the economy in the aftermath of Covid-19 by making it a national infrastructure priority.’  https://committees.parliament.uk/work/309/energy-efficiency-of-existing-homes/

·       The EAC call for evidence continues: ‘The Government’s Clean Growth Strategy (2017) set new aspirations for energy efficiency and has a stated ambition for all homes to be EPC rated ‘C’ by 2035 where cost effective, affordable and practical. Currently 19 million homes are EPC rated D or worse and uptake of energy efficiency measures has stalled. The Committee on Climate Change has stressed that widespread deployment of energy efficiency measures across the UK’s building stock will be crucial to any credible and cost-effective strategy to meeting net zero. This includes improvements to around 6 million cavity walls, 6 million solid walls and 21,000 loft insulation measures. There are over 10 million owner occupied households below the EPC band C. This is the market where the largest carbon savings can be made yet there are no incentives for this market to grow.’