Housing

Roberta Blackman-Woods Excerpts

Wednesday 10th June 2015 Commons Chamber

[Dr Roberta Blackman-Woods (City of Durham) (Lab)]

I welcome you, Madam Deputy Speaker, to your new role. It is a pleasure to see you in the Chair.

It has been an interesting—but quite short—debate. I congratulate in particular the Members who made their maiden speeches. The hon. Member for Croydon South (Chris Philp) spoke passionately about the achievements of his constituents and his predecessors. My hon. Friend the Member for Norwich South (Clive Lewis) reminded us of the importance of increasing the diversity of Parliament and this Chamber. He conjured up an amazing image of cathedrals and castles in Norwich and of their being defiant against injustice, which I am sure we would all want to emulate. My hon. Friend the Member for Leeds East (Richard Burgon) spoke very movingly about the wide range of issues facing his constituents and how the actions of this Government and the previous Government are exacerbating them. He did a very good job in speaking up for all his constituents and speaking about the support they need and are not getting from this Government. My hon. Friend the Member for Hornsey and Wood Green (Catherine West) gave a moving speech. She reminded us of the problems facing “generation rent” and the difficulty young people have in getting into the housing market, the need to promote social mobility and, especially in London, the need to address rising house prices, which are putting housing beyond the reach of so many.

Elsewhere in the debate we heard a wonderful speech from my hon. Friend the Member for Westminster North (Ms Buck), who highlighted the particular problems of housing in London and the need to breathe new life into shared ownership. The hon. Member for South Suffolk (James Cartlidge) made some interesting points about the need to reform buy to let and I will be interested to see how those on his Front Bench respond to them. The hon. Member for Eastleigh (Mims Davies) made some interesting points about the need to do more to promote neighbourhood planning and ensure that infrastructure is in place to support new housing—a point emphasised by the hon. Member for Fareham (Suella Fernandes).

[Helen Hayes (Dulwich and West Norwood) (Lab)]

Does my hon. Friend share my concern that the removal of section 106 and community infrastructure levy tariffs from the proposed new starter homes programme will result in our building communities that are not well enough supported by the infrastructure and the services that they need to be successful in the future?

[Dr Blackman-Woods]

My hon. Friend makes an excellent point; it is one that we made a number of times when we were opposing the Government’s changes to section 106 agreements. Those changes are incredibly short-sighted and will lead to a long-term dearth of the infrastructure that our country so desperately needs.

Our housing market is in crisis because the Government are failing to build the homes that our country needs. We need 245,000 homes to be built every year in England alone, just to keep up with demand, but only 125,000 new homes were built in England between April 2014 and March 2015. Recent figures from an LSE report demonstrate clearly that house building figures were much lower under the coalition Government than under the previous Labour Administration. Indeed, house building fell during that time to its lowest level since the 1920s.

Between 2011 and 2014, the total shortfall against the need for new homes was a massive 515,000. This has led to record numbers of young people in their 20s and 30s living with their parents. Analysis by the estate agent Savills has shown that in areas such as the south-east, where there is high demand and a strong employment market, approvals for new builds are

“falling well below objectively assessed need”.

In other words, even the homes that are being built are not necessarily in the places with the most acute housing need.

As a result of the Government’s continuing failure to tackle barriers to housing supply, prices are continuing to rise, reflecting sky-high demand. Even though there is deflation in other parts of the economy, the annual rate of house-price inflation is now 8.6%. House prices have outstripped wage inflation and hit an affordability ceiling in all parts of the country, with figures for last year showing a salary-to-house-price ratio of 10 times across the UK. Houses are unaffordable right across the country, with a rate of seven times in the north-west and 14 times in London. As prices are pushed beyond the reach of an increasing majority of us, home ownership has fallen to a 30-year low.

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

Does my hon. Friend acknowledge that there are now real issues with recruiting to our vital public services because people cannot afford to live in our cities any more?

[Dr Blackman-Woods]

Indeed; my hon. Friend makes an excellent point.

The Government’s flagship Help to Buy scheme is also stuttering to a halt, with completions falling by 43% in the last quarter of last year and at the beginning of this one. The record on private renting is no better. For renters who aspire to home ownership, the future poses huge challenges. Around 11 million people are now renting privately. They are not just young people trying to get on to the housing ladder: 1.4 million of them are families with children, and almost half of private renters are over the age of 35. The undersupply of private rented homes is making housing unaffordable for many, particularly those who rely on that sector. Rents are rising, and between 2008-09 and 2013-14, the mean average private rent increased from £153 a week to £176 a week—an increase of 15%. The increase in London was 21%.

What are the Government doing about this? Absolutely nothing. Indeed, the previous Conservative chairman, the right hon. Member for Welwyn Hatfield (Grant Shapps), denied that private rents were rising, much to the incredulity of Labour Members. The Tories’ record on social renting is no better. In 2013-14, only 10,840 social rented homes were delivered. That was a 71% decrease from the 37,000 delivered in 2012-13. Furthermore, despite Government promises to replace every home sold through the right to buy, that simply did not happen—for every 10 sold, only one had started to be built to replace them.

The Government therefore have real questions to answer about their extension of the right to buy scheme. In particular, we must have better answers about how the extended scheme will be financed. Selling off expensive council houses to fund the policy will mean that, for some areas of London and for other inner cities too, all council housing might need to be sold, with like-for-like replacement unlikely to be achieved. That point was well made by my hon. Friend the Member for Sheffield South East (Mr Betts) and my right hon. Friend the Member for Tooting (Sadiq Khan). I look forward to hearing from the Minister how the scheme is to be financed.

All the measures that the Government have put in place, however, do not tackle the issue of homelessness.

[Stewart McDonald (Glasgow South) (SNP)]

Will the hon. Lady give way?

[Dr Blackman-Woods]

I am out of time.

I hope to hear from the Minister how his Government will address the massive undersupply of housing, deliver more social housing for rent, tackle barriers to home ownership and produce a private rented sector that offers stable and secure housing for the people relying on it. In moving the motion, we are asking the Government to bring forward a comprehensive plan to address the housing crisis that our country is facing and to do so now. I look forward to hearing what the Minister has to say. I urge all Members to vote for our motion.