Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many households have been denied applications for social homes due to affordability checks; and what alternative options are available for those households in order to avoid homelessness.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government has already taken action to remove barriers for those most in need to access social housing including exempting care leavers under 25 years old and victims of domestic abuse from local connection tests.
Local housing authorities and landlords may carry out pre-tenancy and affordability checks when considering a person's application for social housing and these can play an important role in ensuring that a tenancy is sustainable. We do, however, expect local authorities and landlords to show consideration for individual circumstances when considering these.
The government has made clear that it intends to review and update statutory guidance on social housing allocations to ensure that allocations reflect local need and effectively support vulnerable households. As part of that process, we will also consider ways that local authorities and landlords can work more cooperatively on these issues, including those at risk of homelessness.
My Department does not collect data to enable us to assess the number of households being denied social homes due to affordability checks.
Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment has been made of the potential impact of pre-tenancy checks by housing associations on the ability of households experiencing or at risk of homelessness to access social housing.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government has already taken action to remove barriers for those most in need to access social housing including exempting care leavers under 25 years old and victims of domestic abuse from local connection tests.
Local housing authorities and landlords may carry out pre-tenancy and affordability checks when considering a person's application for social housing and these can play an important role in ensuring that a tenancy is sustainable. We do, however, expect local authorities and landlords to show consideration for individual circumstances when considering these.
The government has made clear that it intends to review and update statutory guidance on social housing allocations to ensure that allocations reflect local need and effectively support vulnerable households. As part of that process, we will also consider ways that local authorities and landlords can work more cooperatively on these issues, including those at risk of homelessness.
My Department does not collect data to enable us to assess the number of households being denied social homes due to affordability checks.
Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he will take to remove barriers to accessing a social home for those most in need.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government has already taken action to remove barriers for those most in need to access social housing including exempting care leavers under 25 years old and victims of domestic abuse from local connection tests.
Local housing authorities and landlords may carry out pre-tenancy and affordability checks when considering a person's application for social housing and these can play an important role in ensuring that a tenancy is sustainable. We do, however, expect local authorities and landlords to show consideration for individual circumstances when considering these.
The government has made clear that it intends to review and update statutory guidance on social housing allocations to ensure that allocations reflect local need and effectively support vulnerable households. As part of that process, we will also consider ways that local authorities and landlords can work more cooperatively on these issues, including those at risk of homelessness.
My Department does not collect data to enable us to assess the number of households being denied social homes due to affordability checks.
Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking with the Department of Health and Social Care to reduce the number of people discharged from NHS care into homelessness.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
In January 2024, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and the Department of Health and Social Care published Discharging people at risk of or experiencing homelessness, guidance to help staff plan safe discharges and prevent homelessness after NHS care.
We will look closely at the issue of people being discharged from NHS care into homelessness in our cross-government Homelessness Strategy.
Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of lowering affordable housing requirements on levels of social housing supply in London in the (a) long and (b) short term.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
When it comes to development, London faces challenges that are common to all parts of England over recent years. These include a significant increase in building material prices; a rise in financing costs; and planning capacity and capability pressures.
In addition, the capital faces a number of challenges unique to its housing market which differs in important ways from the rest of the country. These include the fact that London is overwhelmingly reliant on flatted developments; has depended over recent decades on demand from international buyers and investors; and has a higher proportion of landowners (and traders acting on their behalf) who are global investors allocating development funding based on competing returns globally and across asset classes.
The combination of these and other factors has resulted in a perfect storm for housebuilding in our capital. Overall home starts in London in 2024-25 totalled just 3,990. Affordable housing starts in 2024/25 were less than 20% of their 2022/23 level. In the first quarter of this year, more than a third of London Boroughs recorded zero housing starts.
My Department has engaged extensively with housebuilders, registered providers of social housing, and London Boroughs to understand fully the housing delivery challenge in London and to develop measures to address it.
While viability pressures are impacting residential development in many parts of the country, we know they are particularly acute in London. Those pressures were already resulting in proportions of affordable housing being reduced on schemes following viability assessment. According to Greater London Authority (GLA) monitoring data, the average affordable housing level of referable applications that have been approved through their viability tested route was 20 per cent between 2022-2024.
To address this, the Secretary of State and the Mayor of London announced a new package of support for housebuilding in London that included developers to access a new, time-limited planning route to incentivise build out. This will sit alongside the existing Fast Track and Viability Tested routes and will enable developers to secure planning permission without a viability assessment on private land where they commit to 20 per cent affordable housing (60% of which must be Social Rent), of which half will be eligible to receive grant funding, with a gain-share mechanism to increase affordable delivery on sites that continue into the next decade where market conditions improve.
Our engagement with the sector indicates that these measures will encourage schemes to come forward, and existing schemes to progress, in the near-term, and will thereby support a rapid recovery in housing delivery.
The GLA opened a consultation for this time-limited measure on Thursday 27 November, and published a background information document with supporting evidence for decision making which can be found here.
Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps she plans to take to ensure that the 60% of affordable homes provided through the new route at social rent are not renegotiated out at a later stage in the development process.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
On 23 October 2025, the Secretary of State and the Mayor of London announced a new package of support for housebuilding in London. Details can be found on gov.uk here. A consultation on these London-specific measures will be launched in November 2025.
The package includes a new, time-limited planning route, which will sit alongside the Greater London Authority’s existing Fast Track and Viability Tested routes. This new route is designed to encourage schemes to come forward, and existing schemes to progress, in the near-term, in order to support a rapid recovery in housing delivery.
In order to access this time-limited route, schemes will be required to provide at least 20 per cent affordable housing, with a minimum of 60 per cent social rent (and the rest intermediate tenures in line with London Plan policy). Boroughs will be expected to consider applications that meet these minimum levels. This route will be available until 31 March 2028 or the publication of the revised London Plan, whichever is earlier. All planning decisions on applications will need to have been issued by the local planning authority by the deadline.
A gain-share review mechanism will be applicable where construction on the scheme has not reached a fixed milestone by the end of March 2030 – meaning that if additional returns result from improved market conditions, these benefit fairly both the developer and the community.
Any proposed reductions in affordable housing will be subject to full viability assessment and will no longer be eligible for the time limited planning route. In this case a review would then apply regardless of whether the delivery milestone was met to determine whether additional affordable housing contributions can be provided if viability improves over the lifetime of the development.
In respect of existing schemes, the GLA encourages partners to deliver affordable housing in excess of 20 per cent where possible, especially where planning consents are in place, and will make grant available at or above the announced benchmark grant rates for such projects where it provides value for money to do so. Projects consented at 35 per cent or more affordable housing, that are currently stalled due to viability reasons, are encouraged to assess the availability of grant where this is needed to support delivery and to increase the level of affordable housing above this. For bids providing less than 35 per cent affordable housing, where the grant requested is higher than the said benchmarks, the GLA will require Additionality Viability Assessments to be undertaken. In all cases, the GLA will undertake checks to ensure that any grant allocated is compliant with subsidy control rules
Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will meet with the Fire Brigades Union to discuss the safety of firefighters when tackling wildfires.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The health and safety of firefighters is of the utmost importance. The government recognises the risks that firefighters face and is grateful to them for their bravery.
Fire and rescue authorities, as employers, must take action to protect firefighter physical and mental health, this includes ensuring that firefighters receive the appropriate equipment and training they need.
The government is proactively engaging with the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) alongside other fire and rescue sector stakeholders both at Ministerial and at official level.
The FBU is also a member of the Ministerial Advisory Group on Fire and Rescue Reform (MAGFRR) which has been established under this government. The MAGFRR brings together key fire and rescue sector leaders to discuss policy and key issues.
Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he plans to take to (a) maintain social housing commitments in existing planning permissions in London and (b) ensure that levels of social housing are not reduced in instances where developments are already approved in London.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
As part of the Government’s drive to build 1.5 million new homes in this Parliament, the Mayor of London and the government have developed a package of support for housebuilding in the capital. This package includes a new time-limited planning route designed to improve the viability of housing developments in the near term, boosting the number of new homes, including affordable homes delivered in the next few years. Details of the package, including the impacts of the programme, were set out in a policy statement published on 23 October 2025, available on gov.uk here.
As set out in the policy statement, once the new time-limited planning route comes into effect applicants will be expected to seek grant where needed to maintain or increase the level of affordable housing in existing section 106 agreements.
I also refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 79909 on 20 October 2025.
Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what alternative options for helping to deliver (a) affordable and (b) social housing in London have been considered by his Department.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
When developing policy, the government considers the merits of an extensive range of potential policy solutions.
Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how his Department plans to work with relevant stakeholders to resolve potential issues affecting the delivery of social housing through Section 106 on early engagement between developers and housing associations on the (a) design and (b) quality of homes in the long-term.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Section 106 agreements are, and will remain, an essential mechanism for delivering social and affordable housing.
The government continues to progress work on a holistic policy package that will deal with the legacy problem of existing uncontracted S106 units and also prevent the problem recurring. We are working with stakeholders, including registered providers, local planning authorities and housebuilders, on this.
In respect of early engagement specifically, my Department notes and welcomes the work of the G15 group of London's leading housing associations and others to develop collaboration principles aimed at improving how housebuilders and social landlords work together to deliver successful S106 agreements.