Housing Supply and Homelessness
Baroness Warwick of Undercliffe Excerpts(2 weeks, 4 days ago)
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Baroness Warwick of Undercliffe
That this House takes note of the need to increase housing supply and tackle homelessness.
Baroness Warwick of Undercliffe (Lab)
My Lords, I welcome this opportunity to highlight again the current housing crisis and the rise in homelessness, and I am grateful to all noble Lords who have chosen to speak in this debate.
The facts are truly shocking. They are reflected in innumerable reports over the last few years. Charities such as Shelter and Crisis have been sounding warnings for years. Sector bodies such as the National Housing Federation have lobbied hard for an increased supply of homes that can be afforded and are of good quality. The Church of England has produced two important reports re-emphasising the crisis we face, and I am glad that the most reverend Primate the Archbishop of Canterbury has chosen this debate to make his valedictory speech to the House. He instigated the two reports and has shown a strong commitment to ending homelessness. I know that the House will appreciate his many valuable contributions over the years and looks forward to his valedictory address.
It must be a crisis when millions of people and families in this country cannot find or afford a decent home: a home where they feel secure, where they can thrive and where their children can learn. The Labour manifesto was clear that the housing crisis was a national priority and committed to delivering 1.5 million homes over the Parliament. Beneath that headline commitment is an ambition to provide the biggest increase to social and affordable housing for a generation. As I hope to outline today, a major new programme of social housebuilding is more critical than ever, and the role that supported housing can play as a part of that is urgently needed if we are to make any progress in dealing with homelessness.
In the Autumn Budget, the Chancellor promised to deliver not only a £500 million boost to the affordable homes programme but flexibilities to councils when using right-to-buy receipts and consultation on a new social housing rent settlement. On homelessness, additional funds of £233 million were announced—a positive initial step, but these are only foundations on which to build. Demand will still exceed supply even if that target is fully met. Housing has an impact on health policy, education policy, immigration, justice, transport and employment; just about every arm of government has a role to play in addressing this crisis. It is a huge challenge for the Government and for the Minister. I urge the need for a long-term strategy, which will depend on achieving not only cross-departmental support but some degree of cross-party support for long-term policies that can be sustained beyond the lifetime of one Parliament or one Government. I hope the party opposite will agree to play its part in achieving this.
The sheer scale is daunting. Over 8 million people in England cannot access the housing they need, with a large portion requiring social housing. National Housing Federation research into overcrowding found that more than 310,000 children in England are forced to share beds with other family members. One in six children is living in cramped conditions—that is around 2 million children.
An increase in the number of people facing homelessness has been compounded by the cost of living crisis. The latest official statistics show a 10% increase in the number of households who contacted their local authorities due to being at risk of homelessness. A record number of families are homeless and living in inadequate temporary accommodation, which is disrupting children’s education, undermining their well-being and piling enormous pressure on families. Temporary accommodation, predominantly delivered by the private sector, is often of poor quality and unsuitable for families, who report high levels of stress, anxiety and depression.
Temporary accommodation was created as a short-term solution, but the rise in homelessness and lack of suitable social housing means that households can spend years in it, even where social housing is available. The increased need has meant that local authorities have to rely on B&Bs and hotels. This has become a huge financial burden on local authorities, which between April 2023 and March 2024 spent a total of £2.3 billion on temporary accommodation. The number of rough sleepers has also continued to rise to record levels. In London alone, the Combined Homelessness and Information Network has reported a 19% increase in rough sleepers compared with last year.
The last Labour Government reduced rough sleeping by more than two-thirds in their first term by taking a cross-departmental approach. Can my noble friend the Minister update the House on the work of the Deputy Prime Minister’s ministerial task force to end homelessness? Will the Minister commit the Government to working with mayors and local government leaders to achieve this?
The link between homelessness and health is well known. Unmet mental health needs and lack of treatment for substance misuse are known factors that can trap people in the cycle of homelessness. Health is more than just the absence of disease; it is about people’s overall well-being. Health starts at home, and the housing crisis has had an awful effect on people’s health, with long-term consequences. It is increasing the financial burden on the NHS and costing £1.4 billion per year to treat people affected by poor housing.
Housing that is properly adapted to suit the needs of residents and having the right support in place are key to keeping people out of hospital and living independently. The tragic death of Awaab Ishak reminds us that poor-quality homes can also contribute to avoidable deaths and increase the risk of developing asthma and other respiratory conditions. We must commit to ensuring that nothing like this ever happens again.
Overcrowding can put a real strain on families. Reduced privacy and lack of space to study or play have been linked to developmental issues and poor mental health in children. Appropriate housing with support where needed can help relieve pressures on the NHS by enabling timely discharge from hospital, preventing readmissions and helping people access health services early on. Will the Minister ensure that the long-term housing policy is integrated into the ambitions set out in the NHS 10-year plan, to ensure that it looks beyond just the number of new homes and addresses housing conditions and types, affordability and support?
I referred to supported housing. Homelessness schemes are essential to ensuring that people get the support they need to break the cycle of homelessness. But the sector is facing a truly dire financial situation. Cuts to funding and the financial stress of supplying temporary accommodation have forced local authorities to make some very difficult decisions. This has included decommissioning vital supported housing and homelessness services—a lifeline for vulnerable groups at risk of rough sleeping. Despite the increasing need for supported housing, one in three supported housing providers has had to close services in the past year, and 60% expect to close schemes in the future due to unviability. This will lead to an increase in need for temporary accommodation and residential care, and so increase even more the financial pressures on local authorities.
The NAO’s July report argued that:
“Dealing with homelessness is creating unsustainable financial pressure for some local authorities”.
Funding constraints are undermining local authorities’ capacity to prevent homelessness and invest in good-quality temporary accommodation and other forms of housing. I hope the Government are under no illusions about the scale of the pressure that councils are facing after years of underfunding and increasing demand for services. It would be helpful if the Minister could confirm the steps the Government are taking to reset the relationship with local government.
There are some things that can be done quickly. The empty homes round table on 19 November highlighted the urgency of tackling long-term empty homes as part of broader efforts to alleviate housing shortages, reduce homelessness and improve housing sustainability. It focused on the need to improve funding flexibility to enable local authorities to acquire and refurbish empty homes, simplifying enforcement measures such as empty dwelling management orders, and the importance of linking empty homes initiatives to wider national housing, homelessness and retrofitting strategies.
Although the NAO report I referred to was based on the legacy of the previous Government, it presents a further challenge for the Government now as they develop their own strategy for dealing with that legacy of homelessness and insufficient housing supply. Local authorities, along with housing associations, are key deliverers of social and supported accommodation. The Government’s commitment to a long-term strategy is essential if they are to ensure a stable and sustainable building programme. The NAO also warned that funding had remained fragmented and generally short term, and it is worth noting that the constant changes in Housing Minister over the last 10 years cannot have done much to encourage longer-term thinking. I hope this Government will learn that lesson.
I turn briefly to the private sector, which has a significant role to play in housebuilding but has severe limitations. The private market has rarely delivered more than 150,000 homes a year, and in many years fewer than that. The only post-war period where we have built more than 300,000 homes a year was when we were building over 100,000 council homes as part of the mix. Importantly, this was founded on a firm cross-party commitment to the value of social housing. The speculative private housebuilder model means market homes will not build out quickly enough to deliver 1.5 million homes this Parliament. Boosting social and affordable housing will be vital to the new Government’s plans for housing-led growth and delivery. So I hope the Minister will agree that we need a big uptick in social housebuilding, as well as moving ahead with planning reform that will open up sites over time.
I will comment briefly on planning. In recent years, the total number of homes that were granted planning permission fell sharply, from 302,000 in 2021-22 to 236,000 in 2022-23. Can the Minister tell us what the Government are doing to reform the planning system in order to deliver the quality of homes and infrastructure the country is crying out for? I hope these issues will be raised in more detail by other speakers.
Let me conclude. We know that building social homes speeds up and stabilises overall housebuilding, as well as increasing the resilience and productivity of the construction sector and boosting growth. The National Housing Federation and Shelter commissioned research which showed that building 90,000 social rented homes a year would add £51.2 billion to the economy. Social housing is not a debt or financial burden on the Exchequer, it is a precious national asset that we need to invest in, protect and maintain. Will the Minister commit to reinforcing this vital message with the Treasury in the forthcoming spending review?
Increasing the supply of homes alone will not solve the housing and homelessness crisis. We need investment in our existing homes to improve quality. We need to secure long-term, ring-fenced funding to protect supported housing and homelessness schemes.
We should consider the scale of the opportunity as well as the challenge. Every year, social landlords save their tenants £18 billion compared with equivalent rents in the private rented sector, meaning lower-income families have more income after housing costs to spend on essentials. This is a contribution that has been overlooked by successive Governments.
Looking ahead to the spring spending review and the Government’s long-term housing strategy, will the Minister urge her Secretary of State and colleagues at the Treasury to ring-fence funding for housing-related support allocated to local authorities? It is also vital we provide more flexible revenue and grant funding, so that supported housing can deliver and develop according to local needs.
Fourteen years of austerity and piecemeal solutions have had an appalling impact on housing, but solutions remain within reach. Will the Minister commit to working across all government departments to cover all aspects of housing and ensure that this feeds into their long-term strategic planning?
Baroness Warwick of Undercliffe (Lab)
My Lords, I thank the Minister for that very comprehensive and indeed very encouraging response. I will not attempt to summarise the debate—indeed, my noble friend did it rather splendidly. But I do not think the Government can be in any doubt that there is support on all sides of this House for speedy action, as well as for a long-term strategy. I simply join in the tribute that she made to the most reverend Primate the Archbishop of Canterbury for the work he has done, and I think that was reflected in all the comments made around the House.
I must say that I was very impressed: I almost wondered whether I should come up with a quote. But, having been given them from as wide a range as Aeneas, Nelson Mandela and Eliza Doolittle, I felt that would be inappropriate.
We have had a passionate and very committed debate today, with some extraordinary personal contributions. They root us in the reality of people’s lives and what we are really trying to deliver here, which is homes and communities. I thank everybody who has made a contribution in this debate and I beg to move.
Cladding Remediation
Baroness Warwick of Undercliffe Excerpts(4 weeks ago)
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Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)
My Lords, I am very glad to say that we now have a Government, and a Deputy Prime Minister who is responsible for this area, who take this incredibly seriously. We will soon be publishing a remediation acceleration plan, which outlines the specific measures we are going to take to increase the pace of remediation, to find all the at-risk buildings quicker and to ensure that the residents at the heart of this terrible issue are supported in the process. There is no longer any excuse for those responsible failing to fix dangerous cladding on their buildings. The message is clear: use the routes we have created to get buildings fixed, and get on with the job.
The Deputy Prime Minister recently held a national roundtable with mayors, regulators and national building safety bodies to press home the urgency of this work, and most developers have now signed up now to the plan that she set out. But please be assured that we will not hesitate to use enforcement measures, and we have provided local authorities with funding to undertake the enforcement necessary.
Baroness Warwick of Undercliffe (Lab)
My Lords, there are still limits to access to funding for social landlords, despite the welcome measures the Government have taken already on funding, meaning that those with the lowest incomes still have to pay for unsafe buildings to be fixed, when private developers profited from constructing them. Will my noble friend respond to End our Cladding Scandal’s call for housing associations to have the same access to the building safety fund and the cladding safety scheme as private building owners?
Social Housebuilding
Baroness Warwick of Undercliffe Excerpts(2 months ago)
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Baroness Warwick of Undercliffe
To ask His Majesty’s Government what plans they have to build capacity in councils and housing associations within the next three months to increase the building of new social homes.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (Baroness Taylor of Stevenage) (Lab)
My Lords, I thank my noble friend for her Question and for all the work she has done to support the social housing sector. The Government are committed to the biggest growth in social and affordable housing for a generation, but we recognise that councils and housing associations need support to build their capacity. In July, we announced steps to help with delivery, including flexibilities in the current affordable homes programme and for councils to use right-to-buy receipts. We will set out plans in the Budget at the end of this month to give councils and housing associations the rent stability they need to borrow and invest in both new and existing homes.
Baroness Warwick of Undercliffe (Lab)
My Lords, I thank my noble friend the Minister for her very helpful and hopeful reply. Recent statistics from the ministry show that, in the year 2023-24, 320,000 households faced or experienced homelessness—an 8% rise on the previous year and the highest on record. Recent research by the NHF, Savills and the HBF warned that, without much more social housing, the Government are set to miss their target of 1.5 million homes. A significant uptick in social housing is vital to plug that gap. Will my noble friend explore the options of a one-year extension to the affordable housing programme in the upcoming October Budget? Extension of the current AHP by one year would be an important first step to increase delivery and capacity in the social housing sector.
Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)
At the risk of repeating my noble friend Lord Livermore, the content of the Budget is of course a matter for the Chancellor of the Exchequer. However, the package we announced in July included flexibility in the current affordable homes programme to help with delivery and extended the 2021-26 affordable homes programme. We have been clear that we will bring forward details of future government investment in social and affordable housing at the spending review. We know how important it is to enable providers to plan for the future as they help to deliver the biggest increase in affordable housing in a generation.
Social Care Strategy
Baroness Warwick of Undercliffe Excerpts(2 months, 1 week ago)
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Baroness Warwick of Undercliffe (Lab)
My Lords, the noble Baroness, Lady Tyler, helped us all with her comprehensive and thoughtful introduction to this debate, and with the urgency she injected into it. I thank her for that. I also thank my noble friend Lady Keeley for her marvellous maiden speech.
The Library briefing for this debate states that
“the social care sector in England is facing workforce, resource and funding pressures”.
It echoes similar comments from the Public Accounts Committee. These bald statements can scarcely convey the awful state of our social care system, which the wider public woke up to during the pandemic and which the recent report from the noble Lord, Lord Darzi, described even more trenchantly as “dire”.
At the same time, the social care sector is trying to handle unprecedented demand and is largely reliant on millions of people providing unpaid care. The service is close to cracking apart. There is universal acceptance that this is placing huge strains on people and their families, as we have heard today, as well as the health service. Yet the political will to change it has just not been there. Much has been promised but almost nothing has changed.
Along with the noble Baroness, Lady Fraser of Craigmaddie, I was a member of the Adult Social Care Committee, which reported to this House 18 months ago. We highlighted the need for support for those who cannot support themselves, which would enable them to live fruitful, active and valuable lives—what one witness described to us as a “gloriously ordinary life”. We used that as our title, to encapsulate what we believed public policy could achieve if the political will were there.
Yet our report concluded, largely based on the voices of lived experience, that many disabled adults and older people continue to be denied choice and control over their lives, largely due to a lack of resources. The cruel reality for local authorities, which provide most adult care, and for the people who rely on these services, was a 29% real-terms reduction in spending power and an estimated 12% drop in spending per person on adult social care services in the previous 10 years. That is the challenge facing the Government now.
Our new Government clearly intend to make this a priority, and they will not be short of advice. Innumerable reports have attempted to address, for example, the highly sensitive question of who pays for the unsustainable costs of social care. Unfortunately, the previous Government refused to grasp this nettle. The new Government have announced their intention to create a national care service and to improve NHS and social care integration as part of a 10-year plan. Although I understand why they are thinking of a 10-year programme—I suspect it will take at least that time to put right the huge imbalance between the funding of the health service and the social care service—the Government have the opportunity to make a real difference now, in the course of this Parliament, and to offer some hope to the millions who rely on care now. They need to show they are determined to, at last, make our social care service visible and fairer—a kinder system that enables people to live positive and valuable lives. The Select Committee report offers some signposts for action that I hope the Government will consider, including establishing a commissioner for care and support to show how adult social care, properly delivered, can have a transformational power in people’s lives.
Finally, I echo the words of the noble Baroness, Lady Tyler, on unpaid carers, as well as the wise words of my noble friend Lady Pitkeathley, our marvellous champion for carers in this House. I urge the Government to develop a system that is not based on the assumption that families will automatically provide care without any financial support because there is no other option. I hope my noble friend the Minister will agree that unpaid carers need better financial compensation if their caring duties prevent them working, or help with juggling work and care if they can remain employed. That would be a great start.
Housing: Modern Methods of Construction
Baroness Warwick of Undercliffe Excerpts(3 months, 2 weeks ago)
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Baroness Warwick of Undercliffe (Lab)
My Lords, the housing sector is struggling. It is universally acknowledged that the country does not have enough affordable homes. This Government have committed to solve the housing crisis for good, but how best to do that where previous Governments have failed? The shortage of labour supply means that traditional building methods cannot deliver housing targets, and traditional private builders have shown that they cannot meet the need.
There is a consensus that MMC must be a major part of the solution, but delivering MMC has been challenging. Some companies have gone bust. Against a backdrop of insolvencies across the construction sector, the perception of MMC has suffered disproportionately. There has been a lack of clear strategy surrounding MMC. A long-term housing plan could provide the certainty to invest in MMC and deliver the Government’s ambitious housing targets.
Social housing must clearly play a central role. Housing associations are planning to build, via MMC, about 10% of the new build currently forecast by the regulator. With the right mix of low-cost incentives and support, that proportion could double.
The recent National Housing Federation survey found supplier insolvency to be the biggest risk to uptake. The Government underwriting risk contracts would have an immediate effect on MMC delivery.
The House of Lords Built Environment Committee’s inquiry into MMC urged the Government to step back and set achievable goals and develop a coherent strategy. The noble Lord, Lord Carrington, gave a thorough and fair picture of what we found. The previous Government committed to a £10 million-backed MMC task force, but it never met. Will the Minister commit the new Government to a central body dedicated to research, training and promotion that will allow MMC to flourish. Will the newly established New Towns Taskforce embed MMC in its delivery plans? At the next spending review, will my noble friend press for a long-term plan for new and existing social homes, including specific policy steps to increase the use of MMC in the social housing sector?