Social Housing

Baroness Grender Excerpts

Tuesday 16th June 2020 Lords Chamber

[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.

[Baroness Grender (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 Boris Johnson 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.