Asked by: David Mackintosh (Conservative - Northampton South)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what procedures his Department has to ensure that housing associations maintain an adequate level of housing stock available for key workers.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
Housing associations have ambitious plans to increase their housing stock over the next few years. The Government is supporting this with £8 billion of funding to deliver over 400,000 affordable homes. This will extend the opportunity of home ownership to more hard working families, including key workers, through measures aimed at doubling the number of first time buyers. The funding prospectus for the new Shared Ownership and Affordable Homes Programme was published on Wednesday 13 April.
The voluntary Right to Buy between the Government and the housing association sector will give another 1.3 million families the chance to purchase a home at Right to Buy level discounts. Homes sold to tenants under this agreement will be replaced on a one for one basis using the proceeds from the sale of the property.
Asked by: David Mackintosh (Conservative - Northampton South)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 22 March 2016 to Question 31152, whether his Department plans to (a) record the nationalities of homeless people and rough sleepers and (b) use such nationality data to help tackle the root causes of homelessness.
Answered by Marcus Jones
The Department publishes statistics on local authority assistance to foreign nationals under homelessness provisions of the 1996 Housing Act. The latest statistics are available from table 785 of statutory homelessness statistics (see https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-homelessness).
The Department does not require local authorities to submit data on the nationality of rough sleepers. However, we are considering the recommendations set out in the UK Statistics Authority report ‘Statistics on Homelessness and Rough Sleeping in England’ and are working on a development plan on how our statistics might best meet the need of users. On 12th April we held the first of a series of events with charities, local authorities and other users of our statistics. As part of those discussions the Department will consider what data we need to collect on rough sleepers.
Asked by: David Mackintosh (Conservative - Northampton South)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that more people are aware of (a) the Right to Buy and (b) other housing schemes offered by the Government.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
My Department has run a Right to Buy marketing campaign since the scheme was reinvigorated in 2012. The campaign is aimed at ensuring eligible council and housing association tenants are made aware of their opportunity to buy their home at a discount and gives them up-to-date information on changes to the discount rates and eligibility criteria. Activity has included direct marketing, radio, digital and local press advertising and out of home roadside posters.
In October 2015 my Department also launched the Own Your Home campaign – aimed at persuading young working people to look again at home ownership and driving take up of appropriate Government home-buying schemes when this is the right decision for them. Drawing together a range of Government schemes, the campaign comprises: radio, digital advertising, social media, out of home (on street posters), consumer press advertising and a major media partnership in the Sun newspaper – as well as linking visually and verbally into activities for the individual schemes.
Asked by: David Mackintosh (Conservative - Northampton South)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if his Department will make plans to provide the Housing Ombudsman service with greater powers to deal with complaints from members of the public.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
There are no current plans to provide the Housing Ombudsman Service with greater powers.
Asked by: David Mackintosh (Conservative - Northampton South)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what powers he has to intervene with under-performing housing associations.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
If the Housing Association is in England and registered with the Homes and Community Agency (HCA), they would have to ensure that they meet the regulatory Standards. However, the Secretary of State has no statutory power to intervene with under-performing Housing Associations.
If the Social Housing Regulator finds that a registered provider has failed to comply with the Standards, it has enforcement powers to ensure compliance with the standards.
Asked by: David Mackintosh (Conservative - Northampton South)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what proportion of rough sleepers has mental health issues; and what plans he has to address that issue.
Answered by Marcus Jones
No one should ever have to sleep rough. That is why we have increased our central investment for homelessness to £139 million over the next four years, and protected homelessness prevention funding to local authorities, totalling £315 million.
We know sleeping rough is rarely the result of a personal housing crisis alone and that the most entrenched rough sleepers often have complex needs, including mental health difficulties or addiction. That is why we are investing £10 million in an innovative new national Social impact Bonds Fund to help address these complex needs in order to help entrenched rough sleepers move off the streets. Through my Ministerial Working Group on Homelessness, I am working with ministerial colleagues across government including the Department of Health, to develop actions to address these underlying causes of homelessness.
Asked by: David Mackintosh (Conservative - Northampton South)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what statistics his Department holds on the nationality of people who are sleeping rough.
Answered by Marcus Jones
The Department does not require local authorities to submit data on the nationality of rough sleepers. However information on the nationality of rough sleepers in London, collected by the Combined Homelessness and Information Network, is shown in the Department’s annual rough sleeping statistical release which is available at:
Asked by: David Mackintosh (Conservative - Northampton South)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what work the Ministerial Working Group for Homelessness has conducted since its last meeting.
Answered by Marcus Jones
The Ministerial Working Group on Homelessness re-convened on 13 January, bringing together key Departments to coordinate policy across Government to prevent more households becoming homeless. The group will meet again shortly to agree its priorities and future work programme.
Asked by: David Mackintosh (Conservative - Northampton South)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what his Department's definition is of a homeless person.
Answered by Marcus Jones
The legal definition of homelessness is set out in Section 175 of the Housing Act 1996. Broadly speaking, somebody is statutorily homeless if they do not have accommodation that they have a legal right to occupy, which is accessible and physically available to them (and their household) and which it would be reasonable for them to continue to live in. It would not be reasonable for someone to continue to live in their home, for example, if that was likely to lead to violence against them (or a member of their family).
Asked by: David Mackintosh (Conservative - Northampton South)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will make a comparative assessment of the effectiveness of the powers available to the devolved administrations and local authorities in England to tackle homelessness.
Answered by Marcus Jones
The Government has committed to work with local authorities, homelessness organisations and across government departments to consider options, including legislation, to prevent more households becoming homeless. We will look to learn from other countries who have innovated in the way they deal with homelessness.