Housing: Affordability and the Underoccupancy Charge

Baroness Seccombe Excerpts

Thursday 31st October 2013 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Seccombe (Con)]

My Lords, I congratulate the noble Baroness, Lady Quin, and thank her for giving us the opportunity to debate this important issue today.

Any change in the law will doubtless cause concerns to those people who stand to be affected. However, I hope that this debate provides us with an opportunity to better understand the proposals. There are many issues surrounding the area of welfare. Not least is the responsibility of government to ensure that all benefits are dispensed in a way that is fair to both the taxpayer and the recipients. We can all understand the frustrations of those who rise early, work all day and find that some of their neighbours on benefits appear to live a comparatively comfortable life without any of the hassle. Any welfare system should therefore be equally fair to those who pay into it and those who receive it. The principal aim should always be to help those who are able back into work. At the moment we can all agree that this has not been working.

However, I want to concentrate on just one small point. With life expectancy increasing, many elderly, and indeed very elderly, people live alone and are able to live independent lives. This is certainly the case for many women who are more often than not the ones left behind. They have raised their families in the same home and then, when their children have flown and the hustle and bustle gone, they can find themselves living alone in a property too large for their needs. This happened to me and I was then able to buy a smaller property, cut down on bills and “downsize”. For anyone living in social housing, this can be much more difficult and the choice has simply not been there.

I want to encourage choice and I was therefore pleased to see that pensioners are not subject to the spare room charge. So, if it is their wish to continue to live in their accommodation, they may do so. However, should they prefer, councils will support social tenants who wish to downsize. There continues to be funding for an action team within the Chartered Institute of Housing, which works with all social landlords to help them to promote moves. It seems to me that for an elderly person struggling with the upkeep of surplus rooms, that could be hugely welcome. Such a scheme would not only encourage choice and make it possible for a person to move to a smaller home but it would release a property for a large family with all its needs.

I was interested to see that in action with the introduction of HomeSwap Direct, which has made it possible for councils and housing associations to tackle underoccupation. The Seaside and Country scheme is another option. It offers social housing outside London to elderly tenants living in Greater London in family-sized properties, and this must present an attractive proposition to some who are looking to get away from the mad rush of city life.

Life can be very lonely for older people. I believe that we, in this House particularly, have a duty to make the later years as enjoyable as we can. I commend the Government for ensuring that those who wish to do so are able to stay in the accommodation that they know as their precious castle but also for alerting them to other opportunities.