New Homes Commitment

Debate between Baroness Warwick of Undercliffe and Lord Greenhalgh

Tuesday 21st June 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord Greenhalgh (Con)]

My noble friend is right that there has been a recent report by the CITB, but I point out that that shortfall is for the whole of the construction industry, not just housing. We have significant cross-government intervention and investment in skills, and the CITB made £110 million available in training grants to support 14,000 businesses. However, we continue to recognise—this was picked up by the Federation of Master Builders—that there are stresses and strains in terms of labour and materials. The Government are working hard to overcome these.

[Baroness Warwick of Undercliffe (Lab)]

My Lords, I declare an interest as chair of the National Housing Federation, which estimates that we need 90,000 social homes a year in England. Can the Minister tell us how the Government will ensure that their reforms in the planning system contained in the Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill will help deliver that much-needed social housing?

[Lord Greenhalgh (Con)]

My Lords, there is a real commitment to build more social housing, including more affordable housing. As the noble Baroness knows, the programme is for some £11.5 billion, with a target of double the number of social rented homes in this particular grant period than the previous one. The Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill recognises that, in order to get the housing, we need the infrastructure in place and must ensure that neighbourhoods have mixed communities at their heart. That is what the Bill is planning to do.

Leaseholders: Costs

Debate between Baroness Warwick of Undercliffe and Lord Greenhalgh

Thursday 18th November 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Greenhalgh (Con)]

Of course we want to protect leaseholders and ensure that social landlords can build new homes of high quality but, far too often, they as developers were in charge of building homes of poor quality, and they need to fix those homes. The figures are that, as of 31 October, £97.3 million has been approved from the building safety fund, and there is the £200 million to remove cladding of aluminium composite material. We are doing what we can to protect leaseholders, but we recognise the challenges faced by registered providers.

[Baroness Warwick of Undercliffe (Lab)]

My Lords, further to that very point, the Secretary of State, in front of the HCLG Committee, acknowledged the unfair and undue burden on both leaseholders and social housing tenants to shoulder the remediation costs. How do the Government plan to alleviate what the Secretary of State referred to as the Sophie’s choice of the housing associations between safety and investing in stock and quality?

[Lord Greenhalgh (Con)]

All major landlords, including social landlords, will have to do that as a matter of course. We are providing funds that will protect leaseholders where the balance sheet does not enable them to do so, and I have given those figures already. However, we ask for a sense of proportion from registered providers—I have reached out to the noble Baroness’s chief executive—not to inflate the bill just because the taxpayer sums are there, but to keep costs down. We need to ensure that together we remediate, mitigate where that is preferable to remediation, keep tenants safe and use the affordable homes programme to build more homes.

Net Zero: Social Market Foundation Report

Debate between Baroness Warwick of Undercliffe and Lord Greenhalgh

Monday 1st November 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Greenhalgh (Con)]

My Lords, the Government are absolutely committed to rural areas not being left behind and take the point that they are essentially very different from urban areas. However, we do not consider that we should have a separate rural strategy but consider it to be part of all our activities.

[Baroness Warwick of Undercliffe (Lab)]

My Lords, I declare my interest as chair of the National Housing Federation. I know from talking to housing associations over the last few months how determined and ambitious they are to make homes greener and warmer for residents and to tackle climate change, but it cannot be done alone. They are already planning to invest £70 billion in future-proofing, but our new estimates, produced by Savills, show that it will cost an extra £36 billion to reach full decarbonisation by 2050. I welcome the additional £800 million announced last week, together with the heat and buildings strategy—a great step forward—but neither addresses the long-term funding gap to 2050. Can the Government work with the sector to bridge this gap and to achieve the country’s net-zero ambitions?

[Lord Greenhalgh (Con)]

My Lords, we recognise that there are considerable challenges in decarbonising our homes. I made a commitment that we will work together to help housing associations address those challenges.

Supported Housing: Funding

Debate between Baroness Warwick of Undercliffe and Lord Greenhalgh

Tuesday 14th September 2021 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Warwick of Undercliffe (Lab)]

My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper. I declare my interest as chair of the National Housing Federation.

[The Minister of State, Home Office and Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (Lord Greenhalgh) (Con)]

My Lords, funding is devolved to local authorities through the local government settlement; they are best placed to make decisions on local services. We continue to work with the sector to address issues of supply and quality. The plan for health and social care announced last week included a commitment that the Government will invest in supported housing, as well as exploring other innovative housing solutions to support more people to live independently at home.

[Baroness Warwick of Undercliffe (Lab)]

My Lords, supported housing plays a transformational role in maintaining independence for those with extra care needs, as well as people rebuilding their lives after street homelessness or domestic abuse. It was never more critical than during the pandemic and needs to be an integral part of our national recovery. Does the Minister recognise the enormous contribution of supported housing? Does he recall the £1.6 billion of ring-fenced funding, which sustained the provision of housing-related support, and does he believe that it needs to be reinstated in the upcoming CSR if we want to avoid a crisis for swathes of the most vulnerable people in our country?

[Lord Greenhalgh (Con)]

My Lords, as I set out in my original Answer, the focus has been away from ring-fencing of funding, but of the £12 billion that has been provided during this pandemic for local councils to deal with the pressures, £6 billion was non-ring-fenced, and a lot of that money can be prioritised for the issues around housing-related support services to ensure that the quality of the services can be continued.

Building Safety

Debate between Baroness Warwick of Undercliffe and Lord Greenhalgh

Monday 22nd February 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Greenhalgh (Con)]

My Lords, I can say that we are meeting with representatives of the insurance industry and of the cladding groups to work on precisely that—a solution to make sure that there is a proportionate, common-sense approach to building insurance. I underline that increasing the pace of remediation is likely to see a return to more sensible policies regarding the setting of building insurance.

[Baroness Warwick of Undercliffe (Lab) [V]]

My Lords, I declare an interest as chair of the National Housing Federation. Can the Minister explain why this very welcome new funding will not be made available to remediate the homes of people living in social housing? Housing associations do not have profits to draw on and local councils cannot simply deplete their reserves, so to make homes safe they will have to divert rental income that would have been spent on the upkeep of tenants’ homes, investment in their communities or building much-needed new affordable homes. Does the Minister accept that the only way to resolve this problem once and for all is for the Government to provide up-front funding for the remediation of homes of all tenures and then claw back as much as possible from those responsible for creating these inadequate buildings in the first place?

[Lord Greenhalgh (Con)]

My Lords, I point out that the priority of this Government is to protect leaseholders from facing the costs of the removal of unsafe cladding, whether they are in social sector buildings or in private buildings. Where registered social landlords feel that they need to impose costs on leaseholders, access to grant funding is available as well as the new financing scheme. That protects the leaseholders in those properties, which is the priority of this Government.

Almshouses

Debate between Baroness Warwick of Undercliffe and Lord Greenhalgh

Thursday 22nd October 2020 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Warwick of Undercliffe (Lab)]

My Lords, I declare my interest as in the register. Many almshouses are provided by housing associations with low-cost housing, often in rural areas, helping to tackle the problem of isolation experienced by so many older people. One of the biggest, which I know well, is Durham Aged Mineworkers, and only this morning I was talking to the marvellous care provider Brunelcare in Bristol. Care homes right across the country desperately need support, particularly in these difficult times, and the long-awaited reform of social care funding is an opportunity to look at housing need right across the country. Can the Minister confirm when the Government will bring this forward?

[Lord Greenhalgh (Con)]

My Lords, I point out that the Government have seen 140,000 affordable homes delivered by local authorities in rural England since April 2010, and I will write to the noble Baroness on that matter.

Housing: Rent, Evictions and Covid-19

Debate between Baroness Warwick of Undercliffe and Lord Greenhalgh

Tuesday 13th October 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Greenhalgh (Con)]

My Lords, I repeat that there has been an unprecedented level of measures to support renters and we will continue to do what is needed to keep as many safe as possible, but it is fair to say that there will be cases where renters will have to potentially seek other places to live.

[Baroness Warwick of Undercliffe (Lab)]

My Lords, I declare my interests as set out in the register. I am glad that housing associations have said clearly that they will not evict anyone suffering because of this crisis and are supporting residents in accessing financial help. What will the Minister do to encourage landlords to act with compassion in the coming months? Does he accept that, with a record 8 million people in England in housing need, the best way in which to protect renters in the longer term from unaffordable housing costs is to build homes for social rent?

[Lord Greenhalgh (Con)]

My Lords, I commend registered social landlords for their leadership but point out that in the wider sector, according to the latest data, 89% of tenants are paying their rent in full, only 7% are in rent arrears and 4% have arrangements in place with their landlords. The vast majority of landlords seem to be acting sensibly.

Housing: Rent and Covid-19

Debate between Baroness Warwick of Undercliffe and Lord Greenhalgh

Thursday 8th October 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Greenhalgh (Con)]

My Lords, the Government are always receptive to creative ideas. We will continue to keep the position under review, and will consider such ideas if we need to.

[Baroness Warwick of Undercliffe (Lab)]

My Lords, I declare an interest as chair of the National Housing Federation. A report by the federation and Heriot-Watt University found that within the last two years, the number of people in need of social housing has increased by 5%, supporting Shelter’s findings. We now have almost 4 million people living in inadequate and overcrowded homes and in desperate need of social housing. As we move into winter, this is going to get worse. Will the Minister look carefully at both reports and commit to building the 90,000 social homes a year we need as a matter of urgency?

[Lord Greenhalgh (Con)]

My Lords, the Government have set out clearly a very significant investment of £12.2 billion for affordable homes, around 50% of which will be social housing and 50% intermediate homes to provide the housing ladder of opportunity. We have to recognise that what we have actually seen is a collapse in home ownership, from a peak of 71% down to 64%. It is that that we are trying to address, to ensure that we give people the opportunity to own their own home, as well as providing the social homes that this country needs.

Planning

Debate between Baroness Warwick of Undercliffe and Lord Greenhalgh

Wednesday 16th September 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Greenhalgh (Con)]

My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Best, is an absolute expert in social housing. I recognise that there is a proposed change and I encourage him to communicate with the consultation, which is ongoing until the end of October. We have committed to delivering a range of different types of affordable housing and have announced a £12 billion affordable homes programme to ensure the continued development of affordable housing.

[Baroness Warwick of Undercliffe (Lab)]

My Lords, I declare an interest as the chair of the National Housing Federation. I am anxious that the proposed changes to the planning system will undermine the already limited provision of affordable homes for rent, particularly, as the noble Lord, Lord Best, said, in rural areas. The White Paper’s revised method for calculating housing need appears to divert funding for new homes to prosperous areas. Will the Minister explain how this contributes to the Government’s levelling-up agenda? Will he work with the affordable housing sector to ensure that any reforms deliver for the communities that need these houses most?

[Lord Greenhalgh (Con)]

My Lords, there is absolutely no intention to divert funding to prosperous areas from more deprived communities. I am meeting with the National Housing Federation later this week and I will take this up and make relevant representations to the department, but that is certainly not the policy intention of the proposed reforms.

Housing: New Homes

Debate between Baroness Warwick of Undercliffe and Lord Greenhalgh

Tuesday 8th September 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Greenhalgh (Con)]

My Lords, I recognise the importance of delivering housing of all types and tenures, and that is reflected in the new approach to housing need, which takes into account affordability as a key plank of the new approach to the formula. I just referred to the enormous amount of money— £11.5 billion—that is being set to deliver affordable homes in the next five-year period.

[Baroness Warwick of Undercliffe (Lab)]

My Lords, today’s commitment to social rent as part of the new affordable homes programme is welcome, as is the Government’s housebuilding ambition of 300,000 new homes per annum. However, that is a level that the private builders have never achieved since World War II, while investment in social housing could create a countercyclical boost for the construction sector. The Minister seems to have recognised that in the announcement today, but it contains some untested and risky policies. Can the Minister assure the House that his department will take steps to ensure that these policies do not slow down the Government’s housebuilding plans at a time when they are most needed to provide new homes for lower earners and key workers?

Social Housing

Debate between Baroness Warwick of Undercliffe and Lord Greenhalgh

Tuesday 16th June 2020 Lords Chamber

[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.

[Baroness Warwick of Undercliffe (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.

Covid-19: Housing

Debate between Baroness Warwick of Undercliffe and Lord Greenhalgh

Monday 18th May 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Greenhalgh]

I thank my noble friend for her comments. We can learn from the experiences of other European countries—particularly Spain, which is providing those low-interest loans. I will take that point up with officials in the department.

[Baroness Warwick of Undercliffe (Lab)]

My Lords, I declare an interest as chair of the National Housing Federation. Housing associations had hoped this year to invest £16.9 billion in developing 50,000 new homes to rent and buy. That is now at risk. They can play a huge part in the recovery by building affordable homes, supporting local businesses and helping the Government to meet their ambitious target for housebuilding. Can the Minister assure the House that he will listen carefully to calls for significant government investment to build 145,000 social and affordable homes each year to meet our country’s needs?

[Lord Greenhalgh]

The noble Baroness is right: registered social landlords play a huge part in housebuilding, and their important part in our future provision of affordable homes of all types continues. That goes for private sales by owners, too. I have already stated that there is an affordable homes programme of some £12.5 billion over the next five years. We will work closely and engage with the industry. I thank the noble Baroness for her comments.