Asked by
To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they plan to publish the
social housing White Paper.
The Minister of State, Home Office and Ministry of Housing,
Communities and Local Government (Lord Greenhalgh) (Con)
My Lords, we will publish the social housing White Paper later
this year. It will set out further measures to empower tenants
and support the continued supply of social homes. This will
include greater redress, better regulation and improving the
quality of social housing.
(Con)
[V]
My Lords, last Sunday marked the third anniversary of the
Grenfell Tower fire, which highlighted the great need to address
social housing. Meanwhile, coronavirus has shown the importance
of having a home that is a decent, safe and secure. For many,
this will mean social housing. Will my noble friend the Minister
come forward with a clearer timeline than the end of the year as
to when the White Paper will be published?
Lord Greenhalgh
I cannot add to the timeline that I have already provided.
However, I will say that we are a matter of weeks away from
publication of the new building safety Bill, which will transform
the safety of many of those who are currently living at risk of
similar events to Grenfell. That will form a new regulatory
oversight for all tenants, including those in social housing.
[V]
My Lords, these Benches welcome the upcoming White Paper, but we
are still losing tens of thousands of social housing units
annually, with a net loss of 17,000 in 2019 alone. Can the
Minister confirm to your Lordships’ House that increasing social
housing will be addressed in the White Paper, and is he able to
give us some indication as to the steps that Her Majesty’s
Government will implement to address this worrying decline?
Lord Greenhalgh
It is fair to say that the record of this Government is quite
impressive when compared with the previous decade under Labour.
Some 450,000 affordable homes is considerably more than the
399,000 built during the years 2000 to 2010. Of course, the
Chancellor has already set out a considerable sum of money—an
unprecedented sum of £12 billion—for the affordable homes
programme and, by lifting the housing revenue account borrowing
cap, many local authorities are now building council homes again.
Although we are waiting on the social housing White Paper, a lot
has been done to ensure the continued supply of affordable
housing and social rented housing.
(Con) [V]
With more and more demand for accessible homes for the elderly
and the disabled—a need that has been highlighted by Covid—has
the Minister seen Habinteg’s analysis of local plans? It shows
that, of the 2.4 million homes already planned for by 2030, only
20% are expected to meet the Part M4(2) accessible and adaptable
standards and that a mere 2% will meet the needs of wheelchair
users in Part M4(3). What steps will my noble friend the Minister
be taking to remedy this, either in the White Paper or perhaps
more broadly?
Lord Greenhalgh
My noble friend makes an important point about the accessibility
of social housing, and I will write to her about the specific
measures we will be taking. I can say that, as well as
accessibility, it is of course important that we continue to
build supported housing for the elderly, and the supply of that
should feature as a very important part of local plans.
(CB)
My Lords, has the Minister seen the report published by the
Affordable Housing Commission which says that 13% of adults
surveyed claimed that their mental health was being adversely
affected by their housing situation? Does the Minister accept
that behind the stress, and despite the significant strides which
have been made, there is still a shortage of more than 1 million
homes and places to live? We need to do more to target people in
low-income groups, people who are poor and people who are young
and still living in their family homes.
Lord Greenhalgh
There is no doubt that we need to see more homes of all types and
tenures to house vulnerable groups, in particular those who have
been mentioned by the noble Lord. It is important to recognise,
however, that the amount of money which has been set aside for
affordable housing—£12 billion—is an unprecedented sum, with
which we seek to build 250,000 affordable homes, including those
for social rent which the noble Lord has pointed out are so
needed.
(Lab)
[V]
My Lords, I declare an interest as the chair of the National
Housing Federation. It has been three years since the tragic fire
at Grenfell Tower, and we owe it to the families and friends of
the victims to ensure that this never happens again. The tragedy
revealed the urgent need to rebuild trust between landlords and
residents. Housing associations have been working, through the
“Together with Tenants” initiative, to strengthen those
relationships, and it is vital that the Government should support
such initiatives to protect the rights and interests of
residents. The earlier Green Paper emphasised the need to renew
our commitment to social housing and to tackle stigma.
Coronavirus has reaffirmed the value of having a safe place to
call home. Will the Minister commit to using the White Paper to
restate the value of social housing to our society and to invest
in it?
Lord Greenhalgh
My Lords, it is important to recognise the points outlined by the
noble Baroness about the stigma around social housing and that we
do what we can to ensure that so-called “poor doors” are a thing
of the past. In addition, we should continue to invest money in
building affordable housing, including social rented housing, so
that we have mixed and balanced communities. One of the points
that is always raised is the need to ensure that there is no
concentration of deprivation, and having a mixture of types and
tenures of housing is critical for all communities.
(LD) [V]
Does the Minister agree with the Conservative-majority housing
Select Committee, which only last week stated that the building
safety fund is an inadequate response to the current “cladding
nightmare” and has too many restrictions, including against
social housing providers? This White Paper was promised by
before the last
election—originally, it was to be an urgent response to the
Grenfell tragedy. Three years on, does the Minister accept that
this is a promise which has not been met?
Lord Greenhalgh
Noble Lords will not be surprised to hear that I do not agree
with that analysis. The sum of £1 billion to the building safety
fund is to ensure that more high-rise buildings are remediated,
and in particular to provide a recourse for those who cannot use
any other means than public money. The provision of £1 billion is
an unprecedented sum to discharge that, and of course we are
delighted that so many people had already registered with the
fund within several weeks of its opening.
(Con) [V]
My Lords, I welcome the £12 billion expenditure announced for
social housing, but can I ask my noble friend whether there are
any plans to encourage the use of pension fund assets, including
local authority funds, to fund extensive social housing
investment, which could ease the pressures on public expenditure?
Lord Greenhalgh
My noble friend has made a very good point, which is that we
could use the returns from housing in order to increase
investment. I shall have to write to her on the specifics of her
point, but it should be noted that the removal of the caps on the
housing revenue account was done precisely to enable more money
to flow into the building of affordable housing.
(CB) [V]
My Lords, a core characteristic of social housing is that its
rents are genuinely affordable to those on modest incomes, but
defining “affordable” is not easy. Will the White Paper cover
this, and does the Minister agree with the Affordable Housing
Commission—which I have the honour to chair—that a sensible
yardstick is for social housing rents to absorb no more than a
third of the take-home pay of those for whom social housing is
intended?
Lord Greenhalgh
My Lords, the definition of “affordable” is certainly not an easy
one. While the Government have not set a specific percentage of
the incomes that people in social housing should be spending on
rent, as suggested, the formula is such that it is typically
around 50% to 60% of market rents.
(Lab Co-op)
[V]
My Lords, I declare my relevant interest as a vice-president of
the Local Government Association. The cost of rent in the social
housing sector has more than trebled over the past 40 years. This
has pushed up the cost of living and made family finances harder.
The Joseph Rowntree Foundation has previously discovered a strong
link between the cost of rents in the housing sector and levels
of poverty. What assessment have the Government made of the
actual affordability of the limited social housing which remains
and levels of poverty?
Lord Greenhalgh
It is fair to say that the differential between social and
private rents has narrowed over a considerable number of decades.
The policy of rent restructuring was started under the previous
Labour Administration. However, as I said in response to a
previous question, social rents continue to be at or around 50%
to 60% of market rents. We are seeing a rise in rents overall,
whether in the private or social sector. At this stage, we can
say that being at around half the private sector level is a
considerable discount in rent, although rents have risen
dramatically overall.
