"My Lords, the noble Lord raises important points, and there are different groups of people who need housing support, but they all need to be tackled in different ways. I will not go into detail about what has happened with asylum accommodation, but we know that a lot of work …..." Baroness Sherlock - View Speech
"My Lords, I am not sure that, if I were on the Benches opposite, I would be talking too much about a failure to build houses over a long period. Since we are on the subject, this Government are providing an extra £1.5 billion to provide 10,000 homes in England …..." Baroness Sherlock - View Speech
"My Lords, the Government weighed all the issues involved in housing across the piece. As I was saying to the noble Lord, Lord Young, we have a housing market, and all these things are interrelated. It is not a matter of simply pressing down here and comparing it with what …..." Baroness Sherlock - View Speech
"We will continue to keep the rate of the local housing allowance under review. To give the House a sense of the cost involved, in April 2024 there was a one-year increase in the local housing allowance; that cost an extra £1.2 billion in 2024–25. Over five years, that one …..." Baroness Sherlock - View Speech
"My Lords, there is certainly a relationship—at least, we assume so—between the amount of money the state will spend supporting housing and how much landlords charge. That cashes out in various ways, as I have just been trying to describe. The reality is that a significant number of people in …..." Baroness Sherlock - View Speech
"My Lords, the starting point is that it needs to be the other way around. The noble Baroness mentions 2%; she will know that that is not a figure the Government recognise, but we do recognise the affordability pressures faced by those living in the private rented sector. That is …..." Baroness Sherlock - View Speech
"My Lords, the starting point is that my department spends £38 billion a year on housing support. No other OECD country spends a greater proportion of its GDP on housing help. Around one-third of households in the private rented sector now get housing support from DWP. That costs over £13 …..." Baroness Sherlock - View Speech
"My Lords, this Government are spending tens of billions of pounds on housing support each year. We are also investing over £40 billion over 10 years in the social and affordable homes programme. We know the causes of homelessness are complex, both personally and structurally. My department is working with …..." Baroness Sherlock - View Speech
"My noble friend raises an excellent point. It is not just a matter of temporary housing; there are issues about the quality of housing. The Government are working very hard on this. In particular, we take the issue of non-compliant landlords renting out substandard properties very seriously indeed. Local authorities …..." Baroness Sherlock - View Speech
"The noble Lord raises an important point. We are watching carefully and monitoring benefits-related content and emerging risks online, and we are working to ensure that people have access to appropriate support. In the coming weeks, we will also introduce a new code of practice that will clamp down on …..." Baroness Sherlock - View Speech