Asked by Lord Young of Cookham To ask Her Majesty’s Government what
progress they have made towards meeting their target of building
300,000 homes a year. The Minister of State, Home Office and
Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities (Lord
Greenhalgh) (Con) From April 2019 to March 2020, more than 242,000
homes were delivered—the highest level for over 30 years. Despite
the pandemic, we enabled construction sites to stay open, allowing
us to...Request free trial
Asked by
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what progress they have made
towards meeting their target of building 300,000 homes a
year.
The Minister of State, Home Office and Department for Levelling
Up, Housing & Communities () (Con)
From April 2019 to March 2020, more than 242,000 homes were
delivered—the highest level for over 30 years. Despite the
pandemic, we enabled construction sites to stay open, allowing us
to deliver more than 216,000 homes in England in 2020-21, well
above the 186,500 forecast for the whole of the UK.
(Con)
I am grateful to my noble friend, but is he aware that the House
of Lords Built Environment Committee has warned the Government
that they will miss their targets by about half over the period
of time in question? In order to catch up, will my noble friend
consider greatly accelerating the number of homes built off-site,
using modular construction? These are quicker, built to a higher
quality and less susceptible to the weather than traditional
methods. Within that, will he consider more homes for the
elderly, which are in short supply, so that those who want to can
downsize, freeing up their homes for families?
(Con)
My noble friend has extensive experience of housing. The
department recognises the importance of modern methods of
construction, both volumetric and non-volumetric as well as those
designed for manufacture and assembly, and we have a target
within the affordable homes programme of delivering around 25%
through these methods. Obviously, we recognise the need for
housing of all types and tenures, and both supported and private
housing for the elderly, and retirement communities are a very
important part of getting the built environment right.
(CB)
My Lords, in order to maximise the funding for the building of
affordable housing, there is a need to bring in willing and able
institutional investors. However, the Government must create a
level playing field in terms of the tax positions and grant
agreements between housing associations and institutional
investors to encourage much-needed collaboration between the two.
Please could the Minister comment on this and other measures to
attract private investment?
(Con)
My Lords, I recognise the important role that registered
providers have played in building affordable housing but also
note that, increasingly, councils are building council homes
again, which is a good thing. We will look at whatever it takes
to remove those barriers to enable people who are building
affordable housing to access institutional investment.
The Lord Speaker ()
My Lords, we have a virtual contribution from the noble Baroness,
Lady Brinton.
(LD) [V]
My Lords, research by Habinteg has shown that the lifetime homes
standard—that is, part M4 category 2—costs only £1,000 extra on
new build, reducing the need for expensive adaptations later in
life and keeping people independent. The LGA says that, at the
current rate of housebuilding, it will take 2,000 years to
achieve this standard. Worse, under 2% of new housing is required
to be built to category 3, for wheelchair users, when a minimum
of 10% is needed. How many units that meet category 2 and 3 have
been built in the past five years?
(Con)
My Lords, I cannot give that particular statistic; what I can say
is that we recognise the importance of getting these standards
right. We have consulted very recently on options to raise the
accessibility of new homes and we continue to focus on ensuring
that we have homes that work for people of all ages and are
suitable for older and disabled people.
(GP)
My Lords—
(Non-Afl)
My Lords—
The Lord Privy Seal () (Con)
My Lords, we will hear from the Green Party.
(GP)
Thank you. How many of the homes that have been built are
net-zero carbon and, therefore, how many are left to be very
expensively retrofitted for energy efficiency later?
(Con)
My Lords, we seem to be going around every type of housing that
we could possibly build, but it is very important to recognise
that we have a future homes standard, that we have set that to be
in place by 2025 and that we continue to build homes that are
reducing our carbon footprint—and, actually, modern methods of
construction are precisely the way to do it.
(Con)
My Lords, our Built Environment Committee report made it clear
that, if the number of new homes is to be increased, improvements
are needed in several areas of public policy, especially
planning. More than half of all authorities have no local plans,
with Slough the latest to drop its plan because of uncertainty.
Will the Government do everything possible—there are examples in
the report—to ensure that the defect is remedied and that we have
homes of all tenures for everybody to live in?
(Con)
I thank my noble friend for all the sterling work she does on the
Built Environment Committee. I recognise that there is a problem
around local plans. Indeed, it is the planning lawyers who point
out that we need more robust timetabling again, to ensure that
local authorities undertake their duties to have a plan to shape
their areas.
of Ullock (Lab)
My Lords, local authorities are crucial to meeting the
Government’s housebuilding targets, but, if they are properly to
master-plan and create the new communities that we need, they
need new powers. So will the Minister support the reform of our
arcane land compensation laws?
(Con)
I look at whatever it takes to support councils in being able to
build and shape their areas. An increasing number of councils are
doing precisely that. This Government have enabled councils to
borrow more liberally against the housing revenue account, but we
will look at whatever measures we can to encourage local
authorities to take a leadership role.
(CB)
My Lords, the skills shortage in the construction industry is set
to be a major problem for years to come. A solution is to attract
more women into this industry, since, as your Lordships’ Built
Environment Committee points out, only 4% of the construction
trade’s roles are held by women. Does the Minister agree that,
when rejuvenating the failed apprenticeships scheme, it would be
particularly helpful if a special effort was made to recruit
apprentices who are women?
(Con)
My Lords, of course we want to ensure that we get both men and
women, and particularly women, involved in construction, but, as
the Building Safety Minister, what I want to see above all is an
increase in the quality and competence of the people who build
our homes.
(Non-Afl)
My Lords, it is agreed that there is a national shortage of
housing in this country. Although greeted as a laudable policy in
the Thatcher years, the sale of council houses depleted the
capacity of local authorities to provide much-needed housing
during emergencies. Can the Minister tell the House what steps
the Government are taking to encourage and assist all local
authorities to increase the renewal of the socially provided
housing stock in the immediate future?
(Con)
I can, because it is an unprecedented amount of money: £11.5
billion for the affordable homes programme. In this programme,
more than double the number of homes, 180,000 homes, will be for
social rent, and a great number will be for sub-market rent. So
there is a real commitment in this Government to deliver housing
of all types and tenures, and in particular socially rented
housing.
(CB)
My Lords, are the Government mindful that noise is a great
irritant? Should local authorities consider airport growth when
determining their local housing needs and avoid approving
development in the proximity of airports that may be impacted, in
the future, by the current and future operations of that airport?
As an example, North West Leicestershire District Council, as I
understand it, has a number of proposals for housing around East
Midlands Airport.
(Con)
My Lords, there is quite a lot of noise today, but what I will
say in answer to the noble Viscount’s question is that local
authorities need to think about how to develop their areas for
the benefit of the local community. This obviously includes
building homes, but in the right place, in the right way and
going with the grain of the local area. Indeed, economic
development is a fundamental part of local leadership.
(Lab)
My Lords, one of the recommendations of the built environment
report referred to by the noble Lord, Lord Young—and I have the
honour of serving on the committee under the noble Baroness, Lady
Neville-Rolfe—was that the Government should encourage more small
builders to build houses, rather than having a smaller number of
big developers. Small, local builders will bring more local
employment and new ideas, and they will generally speed up the
overall housing construction.
(Con)
That is an incredibly good point, because the wider public sector
counts for about a third of the money that is spent in the
construction industry in any given year. We need to encourage
small and medium-sized builders who are more innovative and bring
new things with them, rather than simply the large-volume
builders.
(LD)
My Lords, I am sure that the Minister understands the difference
between affordable housing and housing for social rent. In
response to a previous question on social housing, the Minister’s
answer was “Affordable”—which is not the same thing at all. So
can the Minister help the House to understand, with construction
costs soring and social housing dependent on government grants,
whether the Government will increase the size of the grants so
that more social housing can be built to meet the desperate need
in this country?
(Con)
My Lords, the House will be unsurprised to know that I do
understand the difference between types and tenures of housing.
What I said in response to a previous question was that we had
pledged to build 32 socially rented homes, and that the amount in
this current programme is double that of the previous programme.
To be clear, I meant 32,000 and not 32—I must get my numbers
right. There is a real commitment to build not only socially
rented homes but the houses between that and outright home
ownership.
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