Asked by: Lord Bishop of Chelmsford (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the case for 10-year rent settlements for social homes to create certainty for social housing providers.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The government recognises the value of longer-term rent certainty for Registered Providers of social housing, and continues to support the principle that social housing rents should be index-linked over the long-term. We will consult on future social housing rent policy in due course. That policy will need to strike an appropriate balance between protecting tenants, protecting taxpayers by limiting the costs associated with social housing rents, supporting investment in and management of social housing and supporting the delivery of new homes.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Chelmsford (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the case for establishing a commission on affordable housing to set levels of grant for affordable housing based on expert projections.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Government does not set grant rates for affordable housing in our Affordable Homes Programme. Grant rates are assessed on a scheme-by-scheme basis and are benchmarked against national, local and scheme type averages to ensure bids are competitive on both costs and outputs.
It is right that we keep grant rates flexible to best support the sector to deliver a wide variety of interventions, whilst also ensuring that our assessment criteria drives good value for money.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Chelmsford (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to increase grant funding for social housing delivery to reflect the decrease in the number of planning applications being made, and a probable decrease in the number of section 106 social homes being built as a result.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
The provision of affordable housing is part of the Government's plan to build more homes and provide aspiring homeowners with a step onto the housing ladder.
Our £11.5 billion Affordable Homes Programme will deliver thousands of affordable homes for both rent and to buy right across the country.
The Levelling Up White Paper committed to increasing the supply of social rented homes and a large number of the new homes delivered through our Affordable Homes Programme will be for social rent.
For the first time we are allowing the use of grant towards replacement homes on regeneration schemes where there is a positive impact on overall housing supply. This will mean that more regeneration schemes become viable and we can begin to replace outdated, inefficient, and poor quality stock with new housing, whilst meeting the Affordable Homes Programme objective of increasing supply.
The housing sector has experienced an increase in the cost of borrowing and materials due to wider economic pressures. The Government continuously works with its delivery agencies to ensure that the Programme is delivering effectively in light of these economic challenges.
Since 2010, we have delivered over 684,800 new affordable homes, including over 475,500 affordable homes for rent, of which over 171,100 homes for social rent.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Chelmsford (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to tackle the issue of damp and mould in homes with children in (1) the social rented sector, and (2) the private rented sector.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
Damp and mould can have a serious impact on children’s health and it is unacceptable for anyone to have to live in such conditions.
All rented homes must be free of serious ‘category 1’ hazards, including damp and mould, as defined by the Housing Health and Safety Rating System. In the social rented sector homes must also meet the Decent Homes Standard. We have recently tabled amendments to the Renters (Reform) Bill to extend the Decent Homes Standard to the private rented sector for the first time. We are exploring the merits of a standalone damp and mould standard within the Decent Homes Standard that all landlord must meet, to ensure that landlords are clear on their obligations to tenants.
Following the tragic and avoidable death of Awaab Ishak, the Government has also introduced Awaab’s Law in the Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023. Awaab’s Law will require social landlords to comply with new requirements regarding timeframes for investigating and repairing hazards, including damp and mould.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Chelmsford (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the empty homes premium since its introduction in 2013, with reference to the Local Government Association’s findings of 13 November that empty homes in England have risen by nearly 10 per cent in the past five years.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
The judgement on whether to apply the empty homes premium, and the level of premium, rests with local councils. Through the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act, the Government has provided further flexibility to councils by enabling councils to apply a premium after a property has been empty for twelve months, rather than the current two years.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Chelmsford (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the National Audit Office’s report Investigation into the Homes for Ukraine scheme, published on 17 October, what steps they are taking to improve and expand data on homelessness among Ukrainian refugees who have been part of the Homes for Ukraine scheme, given that local authority data returns on scheme homelessness are voluntary.
Answered by Baroness Swinburne - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Chelmsford (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of (1) their rough sleeping strategy, End Rough Sleeping for Good, and (2) their Rough Sleeping Initiative one year after its launch.
Answered by Baroness Swinburne - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
In September 2022, we published our new cross-government strategy ‘Ending Rough Sleeping for Good’, setting out how we are investing £2 billion over three years to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping. As per our commitment in the rough sleeping strategy, our external Rough Sleeping Advisory Panel, made up of experts across the sector, are supporting government to assess our progress and how we are achieving the commitments in the strategy and to identify any gaps.
The published, independently peer reviewed Rough Sleeping Initiative impact evaluation, found that the Rough Sleeping Initiative produced a net reduction of 32% in rough sleeping in 2018 compared to areas with no Rough Sleeping Initiative funding. We have extended our flagship Rough Sleeping Initiative to 2025, with over £530 million funding so that local areas can provide the tailored support needed to end rough sleeping. This includes an additional investment of £34.6 million announced in September 2023, to increase funding of rough sleeping services in local areas with the greatest need and to maximise impact.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Chelmsford (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to calculate the affordability of housing on the basis of the income of potential tenants.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
There are no plans to change the definition of affordable housing set out in the National Planning Policy Framework. The definition makes it clear that 80% is the ceiling that social housing providers have to meet in order for it to be classified as affordable housing for rent, but can be set lower in order to meet the needs of local residents.
Social Rent is a tenure which is already assessed based on local earnings. It is calculated by using 30% of the property's relative value (based back to 1999), 70% of the relative local income levels (based back to 1999) and applying a weighting based on the number of bedrooms so that smaller properties will have lower rents.
Our Levelling Up White Paper commits to increasing the number of social rent homes.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Chelmsford (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government, given the current definition of affordable housing in the National Planning Policy Framework, whether they consider that rents set at 80 per cent of market rates should continue to be described as 'affordable rent' when this represents more than a third of the income of the average tenant in such accommodation.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
There are no plans to change the definition of affordable housing set out in the National Planning Policy Framework. The definition makes it clear that 80% is the ceiling that social housing providers have to meet in order for it to be classified as affordable housing for rent, but can be set lower in order to meet the needs of local residents.
Social Rent is a tenure which is already assessed based on local earnings. It is calculated by using 30% of the property's relative value (based back to 1999), 70% of the relative local income levels (based back to 1999) and applying a weighting based on the number of bedrooms so that smaller properties will have lower rents.
Our Levelling Up White Paper commits to increasing the number of social rent homes.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Chelmsford (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of raising the threshold at which affordable housing quotas apply, from developments of 10 houses to developments of (1) 40, and (2) 50 houses, on the creation of affordable housing stock.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
In August 2020, HMG consulted on raising the threshold at which affordable housing contributions are required from 10 units to 40 or 50 units. This was proposed as part of the 'Changes to the Current Planning System'.
The analysis undertaken at the time was reported as part of the consultation.
A decision was taken in April 2021 not to take forward the proposal at that stage. We keep this situation under review but the reasons that applied in our decision not to proceed in 2021 remain powerful.