Housebuilding Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
Baroness Neville-Rolfe
Main Page: Baroness Neville-Rolfe (Conservative - Life peer)Department Debates - View all Baroness Neville-Rolfe's debates with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
(3 years, 10 months ago)
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Lord Greenhalgh (Con)
The definition of “affordable” that we use is taxpayer-subsidised housing. Of course, that is council housing as well as housing association and social housing but, importantly, it is housing that takes you on a pathway to home ownership—so it is immediate housing that is also discounted by the taxpayer.
Baroness Neville-Rolfe (Con) (V)
My Lords, home ownership is a huge contributor to a prosperous and contented society, and I am glad to see the Minister’s focus on this. What is the gross number of new homes that were built last year? I am not sure about the basis for the figure of 244,000 that he mentioned. How many were in existing buildings such as pubs, offices or shops?
Lord Greenhalgh (Con)
My Lords, the gross figure for additional dwellings was 252,790. That figure was obtained by adding 243,770 net additional dwellings to 9,000 demolitions. Some 26,930 gains were made through change of use.