Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Streatham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent progress he has made on guidance for unaccompanied minors applying under the Homes for Ukraine Visa scheme.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
The most up to date guidance for unaccompanied minors can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/homes-for-ukraine-guidance-for-councils .
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Streatham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he is taking to increase the supply of (a) affordable and (b) social housing.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
We are committed to increasing the supply of affordable homes and are investing over £12 billion in affordable housing. This is the largest investment in affordable housing since 2010.
This includes our new Affordable Homes Programme which will provide up to 180,000 affordable homes - should economic conditions allow. Around 32,000 of these will be homes for social rent.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Streatham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what plans his Department has to bring almshouse residents’ rights in line with tenants' rights.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The legal position of residents of almshouses is that they have a licence to occupy rather than a tenancy. This was decided in the case of Gray v Taylor (1998) in which the Court of Appeal held that the resident in that case occupied an almshouse as the beneficiary of a charity. This meant that she was not a tenant and only had a licence to occupy. In the case of Watts v Stewart and Ors, 2016, the Court of Appeal followed the judgment in Gray v Taylor that almshouse residents have a licence to occupy and that the grant of a tenancy would be inconsistent with the performance of the duties of the trustees, as it would not be possible for them to ensure that only qualifying persons occupied the almshouses. The trustees could only properly discharge the trusts of the charity, which limited its objects to those in need, hardship or distress, if a personal revocable licence was granted. As occupants of almhouses are licencees, the Protection from Eviction Act 1977 will apply. This requires that 4 weeks’ notice to quit must be given to the occupant.
Where almshouses are registered with the Regulator of Social Housing, they must also comply with the regulator's standards framework. The Tenancy Standard https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/419209/Tenancy_Standard_2015.pdf) compels Private Registered Providers to offer tenancies or terms of occupation which are compatible with the purpose of the accommodation, the needs of individual households, the sustainability of the community, and the efficient use of their housing stock.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Streatham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will provide funding for the repair of unsafe cladding on (a) buildings under 18m in height with flammable external cladding and (b) buildings with no freeholders or owners where the building has fallen to the Crown Estate.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The Government is focusing public grant funding on remediating unsafe cladding on high rise buildings of 18 metres or over. This reflects the exceptional fire risk that certain cladding products pose at that height, as previously noted by Dame Judith Hackitt observed in her independent report.
The Government also has announced a generous financing scheme which will mean that buildings of 11-18 metres in height will have access to finance for the remediation of unsafe cladding, with a commitment that leaseholders will not need to pay more than £50 a month towards this. By providing this financing scheme we are ensuring that money is available for remediation, accelerating the process and making homes safer as quickly as possible.
Where a property has become ownerless, The Crown Estate can, subject to certain requirements, make arrangements to return the property to private ownership. The private owner would then be able to apply for the Government schemes available, subject to meeting the usual eligibility requirements.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Streatham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
What steps he is taking to protect leaseholders from the costs of remediating buildings from unsafe cladding.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
We have made available an unprecedented £5 billion investment in building safety, including £3.5 billion announced last week. This will fund the cost of replaying unsafe cladding in all buildings 18 metres and over.
Lower-rise buildings will gain new protection from the costs of cladding removal through a Government-backed financing arrangement, and no leaseholder will ever pay more than £50 a month towards the removal of unsafe cladding.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Streatham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of embedding the reuse of existing buildings into the proposed Planning for the Future reforms.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
Making effective use of land and buildings is a key aspect of the Government’s existing planning policy, and one which we intend to retain as wider reforms to the planning system are implemented. Our proposed changes to plan-making would bring additional certainty to how land is expected to be used, through the local identification of areas for growth, renewal or protection.
The changes we made to the Use Classes Order from 1 September will support our high streets and town centres by enabling more effective use of existing buildings. More premises will be able to change use without the need for a planning application.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Streatham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent assessment he has made of the ability of local authorities to provide effective local authority services during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Simon Clarke
While MHCLG does not performance manage local government, we do consider the financial stability, leadership and service delivery of individual authorities as part of our oversight of local government. As such, we are providing local authorities with an unprecedented package of support, allocating £4.3 billion of support for?spending?pressures, including £3.7 billion of un-ringfenced grants and the £600 million Infection Control Fund.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Streatham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what plans he has to ensure that no one is evicted from rented accommodation while self-isolating as a result of the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
On 18 March, we announced a radical package of measures to protect renters and landlords affected by coronavirus. Emergency legislation has been taken forward as an urgent priority so that landlords will not be able to start proceedings to evict tenants for at least a three-month period. As a result of these measures, no renter in private or social accommodation needs to be concerned about the threat of eviction.
More information on these plans can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/news/complete-ban-on-evictions-and-additional-protection-for-renters.