Asked by: Liz Twist (Labour - Blaydon and Consett)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he is taking steps to help financially support councils using reserves to cover shortfalls in spending.
Answered by Lee Rowley
The Local Government Finance Settlement makes available £54.1 billion of taxpayer subsidy in 2022/23 for local government in England, an increase of up to £3.7 billion on 2021/22, including, over £1 billion specifically for councils to meet social care pressures.
Further announcements will be made on the proposed local Government finance settlement in the coming weeks ahead.
We are working closely with the sector, as we always do, to monitor the impact on service delivery and budgets.
Asked by: Liz Twist (Labour - Blaydon and Consett)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of amending the monthly £350 thank you payments under the Homes for Ukraine scheme to account for the needs of sponsors hosting larger numbers of Ukrainian refugees.
Answered by Felicity Buchan
We recognise the growing pressure on family finances, and are continuing to work with local councils and sponsors to support them with their hosting arrangements.
Asked by: Liz Twist (Labour - Blaydon and Consett)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to UNISON’s report entitled a decent place to live: Homes Fit for Key Workers, published in July 2021, what recent assessment he has made of the findings of that report.
Answered by Lee Rowley
In terms of housing and social housing, the Government has a clear set of policies:
Asked by: Liz Twist (Labour - Blaydon and Consett)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, when he will announce his future policy on housing; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Lee Rowley
Ministers will ensure that the House is updated on policy announcements in the usual way.
Asked by: Liz Twist (Labour - Blaydon and Consett)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if it remains his policy to help ensure 300,000 new homes are built year by 2025; and how many new homes a year will be built for social rent.
Answered by Lee Rowley
The Government remains committed to ensuring more homes are built in the right places both to give people support where they need it and also to give more people the opportunity to own their own homes in the future.
With regards to social rent, the Government has committed £11.5 billion of taxpayer funded grant to the latest Affordable Housing Programme. This is intended to provide tons of thousands of new homes across the country. A substantial number of these will be for social rent.
Asked by: Liz Twist (Labour - Blaydon and Consett)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department plans to take to ensure that public sector workers who are key workers have access to affordable homes.
Answered by Lee Rowley
An additional £11.5 billion of taxpayer-funded grant has been allocated to the Affordable Homes Programme, which is intended to provide tens of thousands of new homes across the country. Half the homes will be for Affordable and Social Rent, to help those in need
The Government has brought forward a range of interventions in recent years to promote home ownership. As an example, the First Homes programme is designed to help local first-time buyers and key workers on to the property ladder, by offering homes at a discount of at least 30% compared to the market price. The discount is passed on to all future purchasers in perpetuity, so these homes will keep helping first-time buyers onto the property ladder for generations to come.
Asked by: Liz Twist (Labour - Blaydon and Consett)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what progress the Government has made on halving the number of non-decent rented homes by 2030.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
The Government remains committed to levelling up the country and tackling non-decency. The Government has committed to review the Decent Homes Standard to make sure it is fit for the present day and responses from a recent consultation on a Decent Homes Standard for the private rented sector are currently being analysed.
For those who live in poor quality social housing, we have introduced new legislation to improve the quality and regulation of social housing, give residents performance information so they can hold their landlord to account and ensure that when residents make a complaint, landlords take quick and effective action to put things right.