Asked by: Lord Whitty (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government what proportion of new homes completed in 2022 were for social housing; what is the figure net of social housing demolitions and sales; and what proportion of the net social housing was for social rent.
Answered by Baroness Swinburne - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The most recent figures available are for the financial year 2021-22. In that year, there were 210,070 new build homes completed. Of these, 56,674 were affordable housing, including 6,635 for social rent. This means that 27% of all new build homes was affordable housing. A further 2,682 new affordable homes, including 1,009 for social rent, were delivered through acquisitions of existing stock or had no information available as to whether they were acquisitions or new build.
These data are available in Live Tables 120 and 1000 via the links below:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-net-supply-of-housing
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-affordable-housing-supply
The department has released experimental statistics which estimate a net measure of the supply of affordable housing for rent by summarising the in and outflows to this sector of the housing stock in England. These statistics are still in development and so have a wider degree of uncertainty than more established figures. For 2021-22, the figures show that local authority affordable housing stock for rent decreased by nearly 7,200 while the rental stock owned by private registered providers increased by just over 18,900, an estimated net increase of 11,700 affordable homes for rent for these providers combined. Not all providers of affordable housing are covered, as non-registered providers and units where the provider is unknown are not included. This was published alongside the “Social housing sales and demolitions 2021-22” statistical release. https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/social-housing-sales-and-demolitions-2021-22-england/social-housing-sales-and-demolitions-2021-22#net-supply-of-affordable-housing-for-rent
The currently available data do not allow for a breakdown by tenure, including for social rent. Work has been ongoing with local authorities and the Regulator of Social Housing (which collects data from private registered providers) to collect all data necessary to provide a more comprehensive estimate, including by tenure. We hope to present this in future statistical publications.
Asked by: Lord Whitty (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many households in the social rented sector in England in 2010 were paying (1) social rents, (2) affordable rent, (3) market rent, and (4) other terms; and how many were paying each in the last year for which figures are available.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
The Department does not hold information on the number of social tenant households split by social and affordable rent. In England the English Housing Survey estimates the total number of households in the social rented sector as 3.9 million in 2017/18.
The Department holds data on the amount of stock owned by Local Authorities broken down by Social Rent and Affordable Rent, this information has been provided in table1 (attached)
Data on Private Registered Provider owned stock is collected by Homes England. The number of Private Registered Provider stock is split by all social stock and units for affordable rent, this information has been provided in table 2 (attached).
Asked by: Lord Whitty (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the reply by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth on 19 June (HL Deb, cols 1929–31), what steps, if any, they are taking to control the use of short term lets in leaseholder and tenanted premises in London that were originally social housing where the public sector is now the freeholder and where the contract with the tenant or leaseholder proscribes commercial activity.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
Individual leases and tenancy agreements are a matter for landlords and tenants. Landlords should not unreasonably prohibit sub-letting, and the Courts can adjudicate in this matter, taking account of the relevant covenants.
Where permission under the contract is required to sub-let but is not obtained, landlords already have legal routes to enforce the contract and the Government has no plans to introduce additional controls.
Asked by: Lord Whitty (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the definition of brownfield sites where planning permission will be automatic, as set out in <i>Fixing the Foundations</i> published on 9 July.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
Legislation to grant permission in principle for residential development on suitable brownfield sites will be introduced in due course, which will define which brownfield sites are suitable and will set out the detail of how permission in principle will be granted. Permission in principle will only be granted where the site is suitable for housing which will provide certainty to developers but will also ensure sites which may not be suitable continue to use the planning application process. We recognise the need to maintain important protections, for instance land with high environmental value.