Housing: Affordability and the Underoccupancy Charge

Baroness Turner of Camden Excerpts

Thursday 31st October 2013 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Turner of Camden (Lab)]

My Lords, I, too, would like to contribute to this debate. I thank my noble friend Lady Quin for introducing it and for the manner in which she did so. I also take this opportunity to thank the noble Baroness, Lady Bakewell, for a most interesting and expert speech on this subject.

We have often spoken about housing in this House and about the bedroom tax, which the Minister must know is deeply unpopular. Many vulnerable people have been distressed, particularly those who are disabled. The opposition to it is widespread, including in Scotland, where housing associations report that many people are already in arrears and fearing eviction. The same applies in Wales, where there are also problems. As we have heard during the discussion this afternoon, there are many instances of extreme distress, of which I hope that the Government will take note. It really is about time that the Government reconsidered this whole policy.

This is of course part of a wider discussion of housing in general, where I fear we have rather a crisis. This is particularly true of London and the south-east. We shall no doubt be told by the Government that one cannot talk about a housing crisis without reference to the economic situation, which they will claim is set to improve. It is true that the figures show that this is so for London and the south-east but I do not think it applies in the rest of the country. Indeed, manufacturing growth seems not to have improved in areas where it was hoped that the economy would be rebalanced.

In London and the south-east, everything is no doubt very good for those who are well off. For the remainder—the majority—that is not so. Housing costs have risen dramatically and are still rising, by more than 7% in the past year. People say that it is now even more than that. Things are particularly difficult for younger people, for whom unemployment figures are still high. The area in which I live was once regarded as one of the cheaper areas of Hampstead—it is adjacent to Kilburn—but no longer. It is now really expensive. The problem for younger people can be simply stated: private rents are too high and wages too low, while there is insufficient secular housing.

The Government will no doubt claim that they are attempting to deal with the cost of living and the housing crisis by introducing the so-called Help to Buy Scheme. Yet as many have pointed out, that could merely introduce a housing bubble like that which put housing out of the reach of many in the past. People are already struggling to make ends meet and are going to find it difficult to produce the requisite deposit. The scheme is likely to benefit those already in housing. It will enable people who are already not too badly off to climb further up the housing ladder by uprating. It will not help younger people, who are often in low-paid jobs, on to the housing ladder at all.

There is a further problem. Councils are having difficulty in coping with the lists of those who need social housing. Increasingly, they are having to look outside London and the south-east to access social housing for those who need it and who have not been able to be accommodated in that area. This means that the people so housed will have the expense of commuting, if they still have jobs in London, thus adding further to the expense involved. Moreover, it risks turning London and the south-east into an area where only the well off can afford to live. If you happen to be poor but hard-working, too bad—even if you have a job.

Previous generations have often faced housing crises. Just after the war, there was a shortage of housing. There had of course been the bombing and the destruction of large parts of London and the south-east. The Government of the day took very strong measures, with a lot of public support. They built the pre-fabs: small houses put up rapidly, which housed people very quickly and which still exist. The Government also took control of the housing market. While controls were placed on what could be charged by private landlords, there were rent tribunals which made decisions in line with what people were earning. So, despite the shortages and suffering caused by the war, people realised that everything possible was being done to help them. That is not the situation today.

It is only too clear that if you have the money, you are going to be okay. If not, well, join the queue for secular housing, where you will be very lucky if you are accommodated. This is a grave and serious situation, particularly in the London and south-east area. We all need policies for more secular housing, which we have been told is planned. On the other hand, that is for the future and we have a crisis now. Measures are therefore needed to cope with that crisis. I hope that the Government realise how very severe the situation is in the London area.