Housing Reform

Debate between Grant Shapps and Robert Halfon

Monday 21st November 2011 Commons Chamber

[Grant Shapps]

That is absolutely true. Without putting too fine a point on it, it is a scandal that 700,000 or 750,000 properties are empty when so many people are in desperate housing need. As the hon. Member for Birmingham, Erdington (Jack Dromey) has rightly pointed out, the housing strategy takes account of all the decisions that have been made to date and then presents new proposals. We concluded that we wanted to add another £50 million to the £100 million fund for empty homes that already existed. We shall certainly want to work with my hon. Friend’s local authority and indeed with everyone else, including social enterprises, to ensure that those empty homes are returned to use.

[Robert Halfon (Harlow) (Con)]

I refer Members to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests.

Will my right hon. Friend confirm that, under the reforms, housing money raised in Harlow will be spent in Harlow, and that we really will have Harlow housing money for Harlow people?

[Grant Shapps]

Our intention is to ensure that where there is demand, we can create the housing. The money will cease to be transferred via the centre and then be paid out again. That is what has happened for many years through the housing revenue account, but we are reforming that system. We have confirmed that today in the housing strategy, and as a result about £30 billion of debt will be reallocated around the system and in future be spent locally.

Social Housing (England)

Debate between Grant Shapps and Robert Halfon

Tuesday 28th June 2011 Westminster Hall

[Grant Shapps]

I can reveal to the hon. Lady that if the money were available, I would want to abolish all manner of taxes and provide all manner of discounts to support people’s aspirations. However, I can go no further than to say that the money is not available at this time and that the discount will remain as it is throughout the period of this spending review as a result of the enormous deficit and debt, which we should never forget we were left with after 13 years of the Government whom she supported.

[Robert Halfon]

I thank my right hon. Friend for his comments and the hon. Member for Plymouth, Moor View (Alison Seabeck) for reading my mind. Will my right hon. Friend consider again and comment on the shared-equity scheme? That is slightly different from the right to buy, but gives people a share in their home and a chance to take a step up the housing ladder.

[Grant Shapps]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for his intervention. I am very keen on shared-equity schemes and like to do all that I can to assist with them. I agree with his comments about that issue and will be happy to take a further look at it. I ask him to provide me with more details of his very interesting local bonds discussion, which is certainly worthy of further consideration. In terms of the housing revenue account reforms, local authorities can borrow the money elsewhere, particularly when the debt is large. That may apply only to those with the larger debts because it is difficult to beat the public works loan body percentage, which is still very good. Again, I would be interested to hear more about my hon. Friend’s ideas.

My hon. Friend the Member for Stafford touched on tenancy abuse and whether people whose earnings are in six figures should continue to live in the same home. Again, that is not a huge issue because it does not involve very many people, but there is a basic principle that social housing is built for a reason. It is there to help people who would not otherwise be able to afford to get a roof over their head, and it is important that the homes are used for the purpose for which they were meant. I think that if people are staying in council homes, perhaps in London, with a £900-a-week subsidy—a subsidy that is paid for by taxpayers and to which some of the poorest people in society are contributing—long after their need has clearly gone, that is wrong. I agree with the comments that have been made on that.

The hon. Member for Manchester, Withington (Mr Leech) should know that it is our policy that if people want to stay, they simply have to pay. That is a very simple principle, which means that a community is not broken up but that if someone’s salary reaches six figures, which possibly places them among the top 1% of earners in the country—it has to be at a very high level to deal with the concerns raised by the hon. Member for Plymouth, Moor View and to ensure that the provision is in no sense against aspiration or preventing people from bettering themselves—it is not unreasonable to ask them to pay if they want to stay in their social house, rather than having it paid for by everyone else.

The issue of under-occupancy and empty homes was raised. I passionately believe in trying to solve the equation of 430,000 people under-occupying while nearly 250,000 are overcrowded. I have provided some money, time and resources in order for the Chartered Institute of Housing to assist with that issue. Some of the reforms of housing benefit, which I know are controversial but which our colleagues in the DWP are pushing through, are designed to help to deal with some of the issues of under-occupancy by simply saying that it cannot be right for the taxpayer more widely to be paying for empty rooms. That does not make sense. We need to pay for people to live in homes, not to live with too much empty space.[Official Report, 13 July 2011, Vol. 531, c. 4MC.]

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Grant Shapps and Robert Halfon

Monday 20th June 2011 Commons Chamber

[The Minister for Housing and Local Government (Grant Shapps)]

I can announce today that, subject to contracts, more than 100 developers will offer the equity loan product Firstbuy and I can also say that this will build more than 10,000-odd homes as we initially anticipated—something like 10,500 in England—and bring up to £500 million-worth of investment across the UK.

[Robert Halfon]

Is my hon. Friend aware that, under the last Government, the waiting list in Harlow quadrupled? Does he accept that one of the best ways to break the poverty trap is to help families into shared equity schemes to give them a foot on the property ladder?

[Grant Shapps]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. The waiting list doubled across the country, but in Harlow it quadrupled during the period of the previous Government. That is not good enough; we must build more homes to get ourselves out of that trouble. In addition, we need innovative products that share equity. I know that my hon. Friend is a keen supporter of that and I am sure it will help in his area as indeed it will in the areas of all Members across the country.