Asked by: Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the Spending Review announcements on funding for affordable housing and the forecast £1 billion remaining in the 2015–18 Affordable Homes Programme will mean the continuation of availability of grant to complete pipeline projects by Community Land Trusts and community-led housing providers, including for rental homes.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The Government will honour all existing funding commitments to all schemes which have been allocated funding through the 2015-18 Affordable Homes Programme. This will include any schemes led by Community Land Trusts and community-led housing providers
Asked by: Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what research they have undertaken or commissioned on the take-up of the extension of the right to buy to housing association tenants in all parliamentary constituencies and housing authority areas in England.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
I refer the Noble Baroness to the answer I gave her on 28 October, PQ HL2737
Asked by: Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many housing association tenants they estimate will be able to afford to buy their own home under right to buy in the first year of the scheme; and how many they expect will buy their home in each year to 2020.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
I refer the Noble Baroness to the answer I gave her on 28 October, PQ HL2737
Asked by: Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions they had with council leaders about their proposals to fund the extension of right to buy to housing association tenants through the sale of council assets.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
Ministers and senior officials have engaged widely with local authorities and other key stakeholders regarding the planned sale of high value vacant council housing, and this engagement is continuing.
Asked by: Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the effect on the cost of housing benefit to the public purse of requiring local authorities to sell their housing stock.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
Everyone needs to live within their means. People on benefits should have to make the same decisions and choices about where they can afford to live as people who are not on benefits, and should not expect to be housed in properties that most working households are unable to afford.
The Housing and Planning Bill will require local authorities to make a payment to Government based on the estimated value of their high value housing that is expected to become vacant.
This policy is about councils making best use of their housing stock – selling vacant high value housing to fund the building of new homes which reflect housing need and increase overall housing supply, and to increase home ownership, as set out in the Government’s manifesto.
At the heart of this legislation is the building of more homes. A portion of receipts generated from sales of vacant high value local authority housing will be used to build homes that better meet housing need and increase overall housing supply. In addition to this, housing associations will retain the sales receipt from each home sold through Right to Buy to enable them to re-invest in the delivery of new homes.
Asked by: Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions they have had with the Leasehold Advisory Service about future demands on its services for free legal advice from leaseholders, landlords, professional advisers, managers and others as a result of expanding the right-to-buy scheme to Housing Association tenants.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
We are working collaboratively with the sector in implementing the Right to Buy extension; Ministers and senior officials continue to engage with partners.
Asked by: Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what the average right to buy discount is expected to be for housing association tenants outside London; and whether they will break this data down by local authority area.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
Working with the National Housing Federation, the Government has secured an historic agreement with housing associations to give their tenants the opportunity to buy their home with Right to Buy discounts equivalent to those enjoyed by Council tenants, up to a maximum discount of 70% of market value, or £77,900 (£103,900 in London), whichever is lower. This will deliver the manifesto commitment to extend the benefits of Right to Buy to 1.3 million housing association tenants.
Asked by: Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government for each local authority area what they expect to be the average discount from the Right to Buy scheme for housing association tenants in London.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
Working with the National Housing Federation, the Government has secured an historic agreement with housing associations to give their tenants the opportunity to buy their home with Right to Buy discounts equivalent to those enjoyed by Council tenants, up to a maximum discount of 70% of market value, or £77,900 (£103,900 in London), whichever is lower. This will deliver the manifesto commitment to extend the benefits of Right to Buy to 1.3 million housing association tenants.
Asked by: Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many homes sold under the Right to Buy scheme since 2000 have been replaced; and whether they will place the figures for each year since 2000 in the Library of the House.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
In 2012, the Coalition Government reinvigorated the Right to Buy scheme, increasing maximum discounts to realistic levels and for the first time ever, introduced a requirement to replace every additional sale nationally with a replacement property.
In the first year (2012/13) following the reinvigoration of Right to Buy by the last Government, there were 3,054 additional homes sold. By the end of Q1 2015/16 there were 3,644 new starts and acquisitions. Councils have three years to replace the additional homes sold.
Right to Buy sales by Local Authority (Table 691) and Local Authority starts and acquisitions (Table 693) can be accessed at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-social-housing-sales
Asked by: Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions they have had with the National Federation of Housing and the Local Government Association regarding funding the right to buy for housing association tenants.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The Government regularly meets the National Housing Federation and Local Government Association to talk about a number of issues.