Extract from Oral answer
(Lords) on Short-term Holiday Lets
(LD): My Lords, I declare an
interest as co-president of London Councils—and, incidentally, yet
another vice-president of the Local Government Association. I am
sure that London councils and many other local authorities will be
only too willing to speak with the Minister and his colleagues
about this increasingly difficult issue, which is affecting not
just local authorities but many local residents. Does the Minister
understand that it is extremely resource-intensive for local
authorities to gather the evidence necessary to bring successful
prosecutions proving that a property has been let out every night
for 91 or more successive occasions? That is why there are so few
prosecutions and why this problem is growing in many towns, cities
and resorts throughout the country.
: The noble Lord
refers to the 90-day limit, which applies only to London. The
department met with Airbnb in July last year to discuss its
support for the Mayor of London’s call for a registration scheme
and whether it could support continued efforts around voluntary
initiatives. The department also met with STAA, the industry
group, in July to discuss its response to the Mayor of London’s
call, its support for a roundtable with Westminster
Council and for a sector-wide roundtable once further
progress is made.
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Extract from MHCLG
Questions: Rough Sleeping
(Cities of London and
Westminster) (Con): Does my right hon. Friend agree that the
excellent work undertaken by organisations such as The Passage in
my constituency is vital if we are to meet our manifesto
commitment to end rough sleeping by the end of this Parliament?
The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local
Government (): I thank my hon. Friend
who, in her former role as leader of Westminster
Council played a critical role in taking forward these
issues. I join her in praising the staff of The Passage, which is
a phenomenal organisation. I have seen some of its work in
practice. There are many great organisations in her constituency.
I visited King George’s Hostel in Victoria just two weeks ago and
was incredibly impressed by its staff. The approach I will be
taking as Secretary of State will be to bring together for the
first time health with housing, because homelessness is not just
a housing crisis but a crisis of addiction and mental health. By
bringing them together in a co-ordinated fashion for the first
time, I genuinely believe we will be able to tackle this
issue.
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