Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what estimate he has made of the number of families with children living in temporary accommodation in (a) Coventry North East constituency, (b) Coventry, (c) the West Midland and (d) England.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
Time spent in temporary accommodation means people are getting help and it ensures no family is without a roof over their head.
The latest figures show that on 30 June 2021 the number of households with children in temporary accommodation in England was 60,490, a 3.5% reduction compared to the same quarter the previous year. The number of households with children in temporary accommodation in Coventry is 257. Data is available by local authority only and so is not available for the Coventry North East parliamentary constituency. A breakdown of the temporary accommodation figures for individual local authority areas within the West Midlands Combined Authority is available on Gov.uk at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/statutory-homelessness-in-england-april-to-june-2021
The Government is committed to reducing temporary accommodation and preventing homelessness before it occurs. In 2021-22 local authorities received £375 million through the Homelessness Prevention Grant, which represents a £112 million increase on the previous year's funding, to give them the funding they need to prevent homelessness and help more people sooner.
Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of the impact of the covid-19 outbreak on the number of households in (a) Coventry North East constituency, (b) Coventry, (c) the West Midlands and (d) England that have fallen into Council Tax arrears.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - Leader of HM Official Opposition
The Government does not collect data on the number of households that have fallen into council tax arrears. As part of its response to the pandemic, the Government has provided £670 million of new funding in 2021-22 to help councils in delivering their local council tax support schemes.
Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of the impact of the covid-19 outbreak on the number of households in (a) Coventry North East constituency, (b) Coventry, (c) the West Midlands and (d) England that have fallen into rent arrears with (i) private landlords and (ii) social housing providers.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
The Household Resilience Study is a follow up study to the 2019-20 English Housing Survey. It examines how household and housing circumstances have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Household Resilience Study Wave 3 results are based on surveys conducted between April-May 2021.
In England, 93% of private renters and 87% of social renters were up to date with rent payments.
Geographical findings are available at regional level. 80% of private sector renters and 88% of social renters in the West Midlands are up to date with rent payments.
Data on households by region is available in Table 15a and by tenure in Table 15b of the Household Resilience Study: Wave 3 tables: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/household-resilience-study-wave-3
Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent estimate he has made of the number of vacant shops on high streets in (a) Coventry, (b) the West Midlands and (c) England; and what assessment he has made of the impact of the covid-19 outbreak on the number of vacant retail units in those areas.
Answered by Neil O'Brien - Shadow Minister (Policy Renewal and Development)
The information requested is not held centrally.
Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how much funding his Department has allocated for the purposes of delivering new homes in (a) Coventry North East Constituency, (b) Coventry, (c) the West Midlands and (d) England in each of the last five years.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
Information on total spend on housing and planning is available on the gov.uk website. Further details on country and regional spend can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/country-and-regional-analysis.
This Government is committed to delivering homes where they are most needed. We’ve delivered over 1.8 million new homes between 2010 and 2020. From April 2019 to March 2020 around 244,000 homes were delivered – the highest level for over 30 years and the seventh consecutive year that net supply has increased.
We are continuing to drive up the supply of new homes by diversifying the market; investing in affordable housing; and increasing land supply for new homes by investing in infrastructure.
We have announced £10 billion investment in housing supply since the start of this Parliament, with our housing supply interventions due to unlock over 1 million new homes. This includes an additional £1.8 billion investment announced at Spending Review 2021, consisting of £300 million locally led grant funding that will be distributed to MCAs and Local Authorities to help deliver their housing priorities and £1.5 billion to regenerate underused land and deliver transport links and community facilities, unlocking up to 160,000 homes in total.
Over the last ten years, approximately £157 million has been spent to support the delivery of new homes in Coventry, while over £2.4 billion has been spent in the West Midlands over the same period.
Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how many families with children were housed in temporary accommodation for more than (a) six months, (b) one year or (c) two years in each of the last five years in (i) Coventry North East constituency, (ii) Coventry, (iii) the West Midlands and (iv) England.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
We do not hold data on the length of time households spend in temporary accommodation in each of these areas.
Time spent in temporary accommodation means people are getting help and it ensures no family is without a roof over their head.
The Government is committed to reducing the need for temporary accommodation by preventing homelessness before it occurs. We will fully enforce the Homelessness Reduction Act, which places duties on local housing authorities to take reasonable steps to try to prevent and relieve a person's homelessness.
We are investing £310 million this year through the Homelessness Prevention Grant, which represents a £47 million increase on the previous year's funding, to give councils the funding they need to prevent homelessness and help more people sooner.
Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent estimate he has made of the number of empty residential properties in (a) Coventry North East constituency, (b) Coventry, (c) the West Midlands and (d) England; and what steps his Department is taking to ensure that empty residential properties in those areas do not fall into disrepair and can return into productive use.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
As of October 2020, there were 268,385 long-term empty properties in England, 1,661 in Coventry and 28,740 in the West Midlands. Figures are not collected at parliamentary constituency level
Local authorities have powers and strong incentives to tackle empty homes. Through the New Homes Bonus, they receive the same amount for bringing an additional empty home back into use over a baseline threshold as building a new one
Billing authorities in England also have the power to charge up to 100% extra council tax - on top of the standard bill - on properties that have been unoccupied and unfurnished for at least two years, up to 200% extra on properties that have been empty for at least five years, and up to 300% extra on properties that have been empty for at least 10 years
In certain circumstances, local authorities can exercise powers to take over the management of long-term empty homes in order to bring them back into use in the private rented sector. Local authorities can apply for an Empty Dwelling Management Order (EDMO) when a property has been empty for more than two years, subject to the production of evidence that the property has been causing a nuisance to the community and evidence of community support for their proposal
Grant funding is also available through the Affordable Homes Programme to bring empty homes back into use. Empty properties must not be existing social housing owned by the Registered Provider or by another Registered Provider
It is for local housing authorities to decide when to use their powers to deal with empty properties, and they have the flexibility to focus on locally determined priorities and allocate their resources accordingly.
Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to help protect leaseholders from unfair practices in (a) Coventry North East constituency, (b) Coventry, (c) the West Midlands and (d) England.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
The Government is committed to promoting fairness and transparency for homeowners and ensuring that consumers are protected from abuse and poor service. We are taking forward a comprehensive programme of reform to end unfair practices in the leasehold market.
The Government asked the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to investigate potential mis-selling of homes and unfair terms in the leasehold sector. On 19 March 2021, the CMA announced that it is requiring the removal of ground rent terms which it thinks are unfair from all existing Countryside and Taylor Wimpey contracts to make sure they are no longer in breach of the law. The companies must also agree not to use the terms again in any future leasehold contracts. On 23 June the CMA announced commitments secured from Aviva and Persimmon to amend their practices regarding doubling ground rents and houses sold as leasehold. This is a hugely important step and demonstrates our determination to support affected leaseholders.
In January we announced we will abolish marriage value, cap the treatment of ground rents at 0.1% of the freehold value, and prescribe rates for the calculations at market value. We will also introduce an online calculator, further simplifying the process for leaseholders and ensuring standardisation and fairness for all those looking to enfranchise. Through our reforms, the length of a statutory lease extension will increase to 990 years, from 90 years (for flats) and 50 years (for houses). Leaseholders will be able to extend their lease with zero ground rent on payment of a premium. Leaseholders will also be able to voluntarily agree to a restriction on future development of their property to avoid paying ‘development value’.
Having closely reviewed the Law Commission’s report on Commonhold we have established a new Commonhold Council as a partnership of industry, leaseholders and Government that will prepare homeowners and the market for the widespread take-up of commonhold. This will take time and close working with consumers and industry, and the Commonhold Council will be the critical first step of this.
The Government will respond to the Law Commission’s remaining recommendations on enfranchisement, commonhold and right to manage in due course.
We have brought forward legislation in the Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Bill to set ground rents on newly created leases to a genuine ‘peppercorn’ rate of only one peppercorn per year or effectively zero financial value. This will be the first part of seminal two-part legislation to implement reforms in this Parliament.
Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what plans his Department has to take steps to reduce health inequalities through housing in (a) Coventry North East constituency, (b) Coventry, (c) the West Midlands and (d) England.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
We recognise the increased importance of good quality, safe and decent homes. By law, all landlords must ensure properties are fit for people to live in. All registered providers of social housing (which includes homes owned by local authority landlords) must meet standards set by the Regulator of Social Housing. This includes complying with the Government's Decent Homes Standard, which ensures homes are safe and decent. Social landlords are responsible for addressing any breaches of statutory requirements in the homes they provide.
The Housing Act 2004 and the Housing and Planning Act 2016 gave local authorities powers to regulate and enforce standards in the private rented sector. Where local authorities find seriously hazardous conditions, they have a legal duty to take enforcement action. Local authorities also have the power to serve legal notices requiring landlords to carry out remedial works. If landlords don't comply, or if local authorities believe the risk is high enough, local authorities can carry out remedial works themselves and recover the costs. These powers apply to Coventry North East constituency, Coventry, the West Midlands, and England more broadly. We have made a great deal of progress in recent years to help improve housing standards across the country:
Alongside this, there are also areas where we intend to go further:
MHCLG has taken the lead on many aspects of this work. However, we also recognise that the responsibility for ensuring homes and buildings are safe and decent is a shared one - lying with product designers, developers, building owners and managers and local authorities as well as central Government and devolved administrations.
Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the covid-19 outbreak on the number of households in (a) Coventry North East constituency, (b) Coventry, (c) the West Midlands and (d) England that have fallen into council tax arrears; and what steps his Department is taking to support economically vulnerable households in those areas.
Answered by Luke Hall
The Department does not collect data on the number of households that have fallen into council tax arrears. The Government has provided £670 million of new funding in 2020-21 to support councils in delivering their local council tax support schemes to reduce council tax bills.