Asked by Baroness Thornhill To ask Her Majesty's Government
how many social homes for rent they estimate will be built under
the affordable housing programme. The Parliamentary Under-Secretary
of State, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and
Wales Office (Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth) (Con) My Lords,
since 2010, we have delivered over 378,000 affordable
homes,...Request free trial
Asked by
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To ask Her Majesty's Government how many social homes for
rent they estimate will be built under the affordable housing
programme.
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The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of
Housing, Communities and Local Government and Wales Office
(Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth) (Con)
My Lords, since 2010, we have delivered over 378,000
affordable homes, including 129,000 at social rent. Last
week, we announced a £1.67 billion government investment deal
that will deliver an additional 23,000 affordable homes
outside of London, including at least 12,500 at social rent
in areas where they are needed the most. This is part of the
Government’s £9 billion investment in affordable homes. The
total number of homes delivered will depend on the bids
received.
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(LD)
I thank the Minister for his Answer, and I am genuinely
pleased to see any increase in social housing. However, let
us take that figure of 12,500, which my own authority will be
bidding for—that actually equates to 25 homes a year. I am
sure the Minister is aware that delivery is actually down.
The numbers sound grand until you realise that 40,000
affordable homes were delivered in 2010 but the figure was
down to 5,500 in 2016-17. Last year, 12,000 homes were lost
to right to buy alone. Can the Minister understand why these
proposals and the figures that he outlined are loose change
in response to the evidenced need? Will he reassure us that
the forthcoming Green Paper will be both bold and radical in
its attempt to solve what I believe is a real social crisis?
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My Lords, I am glad that the noble Baroness welcomes the
progress made. In 2016-17, the year to which she referred, we
saw 217,350 new homes delivered—the highest number in all but
one of the previous 30 years.
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(Lab
Co-op)
My Lords, I draw the attention of the House to my interests
as set out in the register. How many homes for social rent
have been lost since 2012 due to government policy requiring
conversion to affordable rent, and how many will be lost
under the same policy if it continues until 2020?
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My Lords, as the noble Lord will know, the affordable rent
figures are generally the measure that is used. I have
referred to the additional 23,000 affordable homes outside of
London that we are committed to. He will know that we have a
separate agreement with the Mayor of London, who is going to
provide 26,000 affordable homes, although not as many at
social rent as outside of London. I am sure the noble Lord
will be pleased at the progress that is being made.
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(Con)
Is my noble friend aware that the key element of affordable
homes for rent lies with council housing? Is it not a fact
that the last Labour Government produced precisely just over
500 homes a year for the previous three years—statistics
which are in the Library for all to see? Against that
background, the figures given by the Minister are greatly to
be welcomed. In addition, can we soon expect a Statement on
new towns or garden towns?
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My Lords, on council houses, over the 13 years under Labour
from 1997 to 2010, some 2,920 council homes were built
whereas between 2010 and 2017, more than three times that
number were built in a shorter period. On the general
position as regards council housing, my noble friend will
know that the £1 billion borrowing that we have committed to
is now open for bids around the country. I think that 137
local authorities have shown an interest in this and bids are
open until 7 September this year. He also referred to new
towns, which are an important part of our programme. Next
Monday my noble friend Lord Young will be presenting to the
House some statutory instruments on these issues.
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(Lab)
My Lords, is it not the case that the last Labour Government
spent millions and millions on bringing homes up to a decent
standard after they inherited housing which was in a worse
state than it had been for many years?
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My Lords, I am afraid that the figures speak for themselves.
Far more housing has been built in the past seven years than
was built under 13 years of Labour. While I grant that it is
important to ensure that homes are fit for occupation, it is
far more important that we build houses that are fit for
occupation. As I say, the figures speak for themselves by
showing a massive improvement over the past few years.
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(LD)
My Lords, I refer to my interests as declared in the
register. My noble friend said that over the past year,
12,000 social homes have been sold under the right-to-buy
scheme. Perhaps I may remind the Minister that current
estimates suggest that the commitment that the Government
made a few years ago on a one-for-one replacement of homes
sold under the right to buy has not been achieved, and on
current announcements made in the past few days, it will not
be achieved? Might the Government consider permitting local
authorities to keep 100% of right-to-buy receipts?
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My Lords, inherent in the noble Lord’s question is the
importance of right to buy—and, indeed, refreshed right to
buy and enhanced right to buy—which I acknowledge. I agree
with him about the importance of permitting local authorities
to use those receipts to build more. That has been happening
at a greater rate, but I acknowledge that he is right to say
that more could be done.
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(CB)
My Lords—
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(Lab)
My Lords, following on from my noble friend’s question—
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(Con)
My Lords, the noble Lord, .
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Thank you, I am most grateful. I congratulate the Government
on moving towards more genuinely affordable low rents. We are
seeing a swing in the pendulum; I hope that it is just the
start of a swing that goes a lot further than it has done so
far, but we are now heading in the right direction. Can the
Minister impress on his Treasury colleagues that it really is
important that rents are low enough for people genuinely to
afford because otherwise the Treasury is paying more in
housing benefit, people’s work incentives are much worse, and
we end up with homelessness? We can see already that housing
associations and councils have to turn people away because
those on the lowest incomes cannot afford the so-called
“affordable rents”. It would be to the benefit of the
Treasury if the Minister could argue the case for more grant
aid in support of real social rents.
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My Lords, the noble Lord has done a massive amount in this
area. I acknowledge that a lot of my life is spent arguing
with the Treasury about various issues, as he can imagine,
but I would impress on him that when rent controls were in
place, we had a far less vibrant rental market than we do
now. We would not want to go back to that sort of control.
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My Lords, will the noble Lord answer my noble friend’s
question? The inheritance of council stock in 1997 was so bad
that the resources of the Labour Government had to be put
into restoring them to anywhere like living capacity.
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I would not acknowledge that. I acknowledge that work was
done on that basis but I do not think that the or Labour Government
should get off the hook on their deplorable record of council
house building in that period.
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