Temporary Accommodation

Rachel Maclean Excerpts

Tuesday 7th November 2017 Commons Chamber

[Rachel Maclean (Redditch) (Con)]

I, too, congratulate the hon. Member for Mitcham and Morden (Siobhain McDonagh). It is a great pleasure to follow her and other hon. Members in highlighting the importance of this critical issue. I understand the importance of temporary accommodation, which plays a vital role, because no child should be left without a roof over their head at a time of their lives when they face a crisis.

This is not a new problem. The number of children in temporary accommodation was at its peak in 2006, and it has come down somewhat since then. However, I absolutely accept that the Government should not be complacent and must do more to continue to bring the number down.

I have sought assurances from Redditch Borough Council, which has 21 units designated as temporary accommodation, that as few families as possible will be sent outside the borough, and I commit to doing more to work with the council to ensure that those numbers are not excessive.

This issue has a number of root causes, which have been admirably tackled by other Members, and I will highlight just three today. The first is, of course, ending homelessness. The Government have shown their commitment to preventing and reducing homelessness, particularly through the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017, which was introduced and championed by my hon. Friend the Member for Harrow East (Bob Blackman), and I thank him for his detailed description of the Act.

[Kevin Hollinrake]

That was not detailed.

[Rachel Maclean]

Well, he has done a fantastic job of championing this issue, and I welcome the work he has done, which all our constituents will benefit from.

The Government are committed to preventing and reducing homelessness, as well as to halving rough sleeping and eliminating it altogether by 2027. Clearly, that is challenging, but they have committed to making real progress by spending over £550 million between now and 2020 to tackle this serious issue. That includes £11.7 million that I am assured has gone to local authorities to help them and that places duties on them to intervene earlier, so that they can be there when families most need their help, which is what we all want to see.

Of course, we need to fix the broken housing market. My goodness, how many times have we heard that in this place? Again, this is not a new issue. For 30 or 40 years, no Governments have built enough houses. We heard absolutely fantastic stories from the hon. Member for West Ham (Lyn Brown) about her experience in a social home. That is definitely where we need to get to. We have heard the commitment to fixing the broken housing market—to diversifying the market—and we have seen progress there, with 333,000 affordable houses, including 240,000 for affordable rent, since 2010.

I accept what the right hon. Member for Tottenham (Mr Lammy) said about the definition of “affordable”. That does need to be looked at, particularly in the Greater London area that many Members here represent. I welcome the fact that in my own constituency of Redditch homes are more affordable in general. In fact, the average age of a first-time buyer in Redditch is 25. There are massive differences across the country, and policy needs to reflect that.

Another reason for homelessness can be the ending of an assured shorthold tenancy. I have heard that there will be some announcements on that in the Budget, so I hope that the Government will bring forward plans to ensure that private landlords can offer longer tenancies where it suits the individual’s situation, as was highlighted by my hon. Friend the Member for Thirsk and Malton (Kevin Hollinrake). More security of tenure would very much help families in that situation and help to reduce homelessness. There is no simple solution to this issue, as I hope that I have made clear.

Labour Members have raised the issue of universal credit, which was rolled out in my constituency last week. I visited the housing providers who provide the most homes in my patch, and I also visited the jobcentre. I asked people there what they are going to do to help prevent anyone being made homeless as a result of the changes. They said that they welcome universal credit because it is helping people to get back into work, while for those families who are in work, it is helping them to take on more hours. Debt counsellors told me of the difficulties that families had had before when they could not take on more hours even if they wanted to. This system can work and it can support people out of poverty. In Redditch, there is a very proactive approach, so every claimant is being given the advance by default. I really hope that with this proactive approach families can benefit from universal credit, as we all agree is within the scope of the policy.

[Mike Kane]

The hon. Lady is making a considered speech, and I am listening very carefully. Did her social landlords not also say that there has been a huge increase in rent arrears because of the roll-out of universal credit in her patch?

[Rachel Maclean]

I can assure the hon. Gentleman that I asked them that question directly, and the answer I got was that many tenants are already in arrears when they come on to the universal credit system. It is therefore important that social landlords work closely with those tenants to help them through the process to get them back earning so as to reduce those arrears. There is support. Neighbourhood workers who work with those tenants assure me that the risk of their becoming homeless is very low, if not negligible. I assure the hon. Gentleman that I will keep in close contact with those social landlords to ensure that that does not happen.

Again, I congratulate the hon. Member for Mitcham and Morden and thank her for raising this important issue. I very much hope that the Minister, given the copious notes he is taking, will be able to reassure us that he is listening and that we can all work together to resolve some of the issues highlighted.