Affordable Social Housing (Walsall)

Karen Bradley Excerpts

Wednesday 12th December 2012 Westminster Hall

[Karen Bradley (Staffordshire Moorlands) (Con)]

It is an honour to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Alan. I look forward to serving under you again.

I formally apologise on behalf of the Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, my right hon. Friend the Member for Bath (Mr Foster), who has been summoned to appear before the Select Committee on Communities and Local Government and has not yet worked out the trick of being in two places at once, but I am sure that will come with time.

I congratulate the hon. Member for Walsall North (Mr Winnick) on securing this important debate. He speaks on the issue with great passion, concern and interest, which I assure him is welcomed by Ministers in the Department for Communities and Local Government.

Housing supply, including affordable housing for both rent and ownership, is a priority for the Government, and it is clear from the hon. Gentleman’s speech that he is concerned about the supply of affordable housing in Walsall. The Government are committed to increasing the supply of affordable housing through a variety of mechanisms. Some 170,000 more affordable homes will be delivered between 2011 and 2015, with combined Government and private sector investment of £19.5 billion. Almost 58,000 affordable homes were delivered in 2011-12, which is a third more than the average delivery in the 10 years between 2000-01 and 2009-10.

The hon. Gentleman mentioned replacement, and under the new right-to-buy scheme one-for-one replacement has been introduced for the first time. When social housing is sold under the right to buy, it will have to be replaced, which I hope he welcomes.

Many of the new homes that are being delivered are in the Homes and Communities Agency’s new affordable homes programme, to which the hon. Gentleman referred. The programme, which launched 18 months ago, offers a new delivery model and introduces affordable rents. It is important to stress that affordable rent is a form of social housing. The programme has delivered 63,000 completions in its first 18 months and homes are allocated in the same way as social rent properties. Existing letting arrangements operated by local authorities and registered providers continue to apply. Homes will be made available at a rent level of up to 80% of local market rents, inclusive of service charge.

Allocations for the affordable homes programme for 2011 to 2015 include a total of £31 million of funding for the black country, which of course includes Walsall. The funding will deliver 1,775 affordable homes. Walsall itself received £7.8 million of that funding, which is equivalent to 25.2%. In Walsall that will deliver 370 homes for affordable rent and a further 55 homes for affordable home ownership by 2015. Additionally, Walsall also received an allocation of £100,000 to bring empty homes back into use and almost £950,000 to fund provision of new pitches for Travellers.

As the hon. Gentleman said, in Walsall social housing is provided by 15 housing associations, including Walsall Housing Group, the council’s housing stock transfer partner, which owns and manages 19,000 properties across the borough. Walsall Housing Group houses 40,000 people, which represents one fifth of Walsall’s population. Walsall Housing Group lets its social housing vacancies through a choice-based letting scheme, which it operates on behalf of the council.

The hon. Gentleman has written specifically on whether Walsall Housing Group, as one of the many providers of social housing in Walsall, would be eligible for the new affordable homes programme, which was, as he knows, over-subscribed. The bidding process was very competitive and the Homes and Communities Agency assessed bids against key criteria, including value for money, deliverability within the programme, time frame and meeting local needs and priorities. Although the programme is now fully committed, I assure him that the agency has quarterly programme reviews with each provider to assess and challenge delivery plans. When a provider is judged not to be able to meet its contracted obligations, the Homes and Communities Agency can move funding to other providers to ensure delivery so that targets can be met. I also assure him that his persistence has been noted by Ministers, and Walsall Housing Group’s requests are, of course, well known to them.

[Mr Winnick]

I do not want other boroughs to suffer as a result of money that was due to them under the allocation going to us. I make that absolutely clear so that there is no misunderstanding. There are two aspects. First, is there not a better commitment so that the decision can be reversed? Secondly, will the hon. Lady take into account the number of people waiting? She mentioned what has been done, but it does not alter the fact that regardless of what has been done or remains to be accomplished, even if the units go ahead and the funding is made available, demand is great. It is even greater as a result of the economic situation. People who might have been able to obtain a mortgage are not in a position to do so because of job losses and so on. What she should have in mind—I hope that the Minister will have it in mind—is the actual demand for such accommodation, which is nowhere being met.

[Karen Bradley]

I take the hon. Gentleman’s comments. There is no quick fix to the problems that the Government inherited in terms of the supply of affordable social housing across the country. The Government are taking a variety of measures. I will come to them shortly. However, his points have been noted, and I will ensure that Ministers and others are well aware of his concerns and respond to him. If there are any points that I have not responded to, he will receive a letter.

Affordable rent is one key to increasing the volume of affordable homes, and this Government will provide it through smaller amounts of public sector investment than previously, allowing us to deliver more homes for every pound of Government investment. The average grant rate under the new programme is about £22,000, compared to an average of £60,000 under the former programme. Grant as a percentage of average scheme costs is now about 20%, compared with 45% formerly. That represents better value for money and should enable the Government to get more units of appropriate accommodation for the money invested.

That is just one example of the practical action that the Government are taking. However, as I said, it will inevitably take time to deal with the problem. The UK Statistics Authority has confirmed that 421,000 social rented homes were lost under the last Government. That loss cannot be reversed overnight, and it is seen in all our constituencies. I understand that last year in Walsall, for example, more than 14,000 households were on the housing waiting list, up from fewer than 6,000 in 1997.

Through the Localism Act 2011, we have given councils back the freedom to manage their own waiting lists. They can decide who qualifies for social housing in their area and develop solutions that make the best use of limited social housing stock. Our new statutory social housing allocation guidance gives councils more freedom to innovate. They can use social housing to encourage work and mobility, rather than leaving people stuck in dependency.

I am pleased to see that Walsall council is using those freedoms to good effect. Its social housing allocation scheme provides for priority to be given to working households, those otherwise contributing to the community and seriously injured former service personnel needing adapted social housing. I congratulate the council on taking those steps. It will certainly help Walsall to meet the hon. Gentleman’s request that people have appropriate homes. I sympathise. We want people living in homes that are the right size and appropriate for them and their families.

The hon. Gentleman asked specifically about section 106 delivery. I do not have the information to hand, but I assure him that the Department will write to him with it shortly.

[Mr Winnick]

I emphasise the need for the section 106 agreement to be looked into, for the reasons I stated. We will probably disagree about rent. I take the view that secure accommodation should be affordable. That is not an argument for today, but it will undoubtedly be debated in other places.

[Karen Bradley]

I take the hon. Gentleman’s comments. As I said, I do not have the specifics about section 106 with me, but I am sure that the information will be forthcoming and he will have it shortly.

The private rented sector is making a significant contribution to meeting housing need and can offer a number of advantages, including labour mobility. On 6 September, the Government announced plans to expand the private rented sector to give tenants more choice about where they live, following the recommendations in Sir Adrian Montague’s review of the potential for institutional investment in large-scale developments built specifically for long-term rent. The Government are setting up a new £200 million “build to rent” fund for developers in order to encourage construction for rent, and are providing up to £10 billion in debt guarantees covering both private rent and affordable housing for those investing in the long-term rental market.

[Mr Winnick]

The hon. Lady is being generous and courteous, and I appreciate it. I am sure that she heard my point that in all the years that I have had the privilege of being a Member of Parliament, no one has asked me if they could be rehoused by a private landlord. Has she as a Member of Parliament been asked that? Has she been approached at her surgery by anyone wanting help to find private rented accommodation?

[Karen Bradley]

I am afraid that I must disappoint the hon. Gentleman. I have, actually.

[Mr Winnick]

How many?

[Karen Bradley]

A number. Perhaps that is the difference in the make-up of affordable housing between Staffordshire Moorlands and Walsall.

There is support. I encourage the hon. Gentleman to work with Walsall Housing Group and other social housing providers in Walsall to consider other avenues that can be taken to help his constituents. I understand that when someone comes to a surgery, everybody wants to help and find the best solution for them. Anything that can be done to help is good.

I thank the hon. Gentleman for raising this important issue. As housing supply, including affordable housing, is a priority for the Government, I welcome his interest in the issue and I hope that he will have the satisfaction in the near future of seeing an increase in affordable housing in Walsall.