Homelessness

Rachael Maskell Excerpts

Tuesday 27th February 2018 Commons Chamber

[Rachael Maskell (York Central) (Lab/Co-op)]

Never did I think we would have to debate this issue after the work Labour did to reduce homelessness. [Interruption.] We are talking about people’s lives, so I do not need cheap comments from Conservative Members.

I want to put the Government under proper scrutiny, first by asking them why they think it is acceptable to halve homelessness by 2022 and abolish it by 2027—why not this year? People need housing now. We have heard how successful Housing First is and the academic evidence supports that. I am particularly proud of the work done by the University of York’s Professor Nicholas Pleace. He has highlighted how successful the scheme has been. Pilots have been carried out in Finland, Norway and Denmark; let us implement the policy now and change the life chances of so many people.

I wish to dig into some of the numbers, because I have some serious questions to ask about the allocation for housing programmes in the Budget. Why is so much money being allocated to Help to Buy? Two thirds of this year’s housing budget is expected to be spent on the Help to Buy scheme. What scrutiny has there been of the programme? Some £3.6 billion has been spent on it in 2017-18, and it is predicted that it will be £4.6 billion in 2018-19, £5.1 billion in 2019-20 and £5.6 billion in 2020-21. I ask because only 57 households in my constituency have benefited under the scheme, yet shares in Persimmon have rocketed, giving its bosses bonuses worth half a billion pounds, with the chief executive officer getting £112 million. Just 4% of that bonus could have solved the homelessness problem in my constituency, where homelessness has gone up by 15 times since 2010.

Homelessness is such a serious issue in my constituency. We have had zero new social housing units and no housing built altogether in the past two quarters. The only homes that have gone up since 2015 have been luxury apartments. That does nothing for the people of my city. We have not only street homelessness but lots of people living in inappropriate accommodation. I have seen in my constituency a mum who has to sleep on the floor next to her kids in the bunk beds, in a five-by-four room. I have seen a mum and dad who have to sleep on a single mattress in another cramped five-by-four room, with a cot, a baby on the way and nowhere to go unless they present themselves as intentionally homeless. I agree with the right hon. Member for Kingston and Surbiton (Sir Edward Davey) that that is a disgraceful term, because nobody is intentionally homeless. We need to put in place a Housing First policy to address these serious issues.

I call on the Minister to work with her Department to reject York’s proposed local plan. A site was allocated for family housing, but only 3% of it will be affordable, let alone provide the social housing that we need. In fact, the local plan presented to the Government seriously undercuts the number of housing units needed and does not address the serious situation in the city, where housing is completely unaffordable. The average rental price is £853 per calendar month, so people who are not intentionally homeless cannot access any housing whatsoever. They certainly cannot consider the housing ladder. I urge the Minister to look into this situation.