Oral Answers to Questions

Alex Baker Excerpts

Monday 12th January 2026 Commons Chamber

[Samantha Dixon]

All practitioners should be registered, and there should be safety, but I will write to the hon. Member with the specific details to answer his question.

[Alex Baker (Aldershot) (Lab)]

12. What steps he is taking to build more social and affordable homes in Aldershot constituency.

[The Minister for Housing and Planning (Matthew Pennycook)]

At the spending review in 2025, we announced record investment to kick-start social and affordable housing at scale across the country. Alongside regulatory certainty and stability and measures to rebuild the capacity of registered providers after their weakening over the previous 14 years, we are ensuring that communities in Aldershot will get the social and affordable housing they need.

[Alex Baker]

A veteran in my constituency who is the father of five young daughters has spent nearly three years waiting for a four-bedroom social home while raising his family in a two-bedroom property. He has now been told that the wait could be a further three years, which means six years of overcrowding for a family simply needing space to live and grow. Sadly, that is not an isolated case. Last year in my constituency, over 100 families were waiting for a four-bedroom social home, but only 31 were allocated one. I welcome the Government’s commitment to building more social homes, but what are they doing to make social housing more flexible so families are not left waiting for years for the right home at the right time?

[Matthew Pennycook]

I am sorry to hear about the long wait that the veteran in question is facing. It is important that we build more social rented homes after 14 years of engineered decline, which is why 60% of our £39 billion social and affordable homes programme will be allocated to social rented homes. However, it is also important we ensure that veterans get the priority they need, which is why in November 2024 we made changes to the local connection requirement to ensure that veterans have greater access to social housing and should be prioritised in the way that that allows.