Housing Strategy

Lord Archbishop of Canterbury Excerpts

Wednesday 24th March 2021 Grand Committee

Moved by

[The Archbishop of Canterbury]

That the Grand Committee takes note of the report Coming Home by the Archbishops’ Commission on Housing, Church and Community, and the case for setting out a long-term housing strategy.

[The Archbishop of Canterbury]

My Lords, I am very grateful to the usual channels for permitting this debate and to all noble Lords who are taking part. I express my sadness at the beginning at the sudden death of Lord Greaves, whose voice in this area, as in so many others, especially those involving the day-to-day concerns of people, will be deeply missed.

The Archbishop’s annual debate is normally held every year, just before Christmas—although I am not sure that it counts as a Christmas present. Due to the pandemic and other issues, it has not happened for a couple of years. You may have thought you were spared but that is not so, for, like Jairus’s daughter, the debate is not dead but was only sleeping. And when better to resurrect it than just before Easter?

While the rollout of the vaccine is a light at the end of a tunnel, people have experienced hardship in many different ways. I pray for noble Lords and parliamentary staff who have suffered in this time of turmoil, for those who have lost loved ones and for those who have felt afraid and isolated this year.

The Archbishops’ Commission on Housing, Church and Community is independent and comprised of people with very different views: academics, theologians, industry experts, people of faith and no faith, and people of different political persuasions. It has published what I believe, having not been on the commission, to be a brilliant, seminal piece of work, titled Coming Home: Tackling the Housing Crisis Together. It has not shied away from challenging the Church before it has challenged anyone else. I am very grateful for the strongly positive reception that this report has been given by the housing industry and by many across the Church. We have been overwhelmed by letters and offers of support from every part of the housing world, including developers, housing associations, charities and far beyond.

The way we have lived over the past year has shown us how important our homes are to our lives. Where we live is vital for our health, well-being, opportunities and flourishing. Our homes are the places from which we go out to grow and to which we return to feel secure and safe.

When we launched this commission, we knew that the focus had to be not simply on building more houses but on better communities. We wanted to build a positive vision for housing, one that has been lacking in our English national understanding for many decades and that has a holistic understanding of being human at its heart. I say “English” because two of the devolved Governments are ahead of us. Scotland’s Housing to 2040 strategy deals with the number of affordable homes, the number for social rent, zero carbon, housing standards and existing stock. The Future Wales strategy deals with co-locating homes, jobs and services, zero carbon, improving the well-being and health of communities, new priority areas for green energy, affordable housing and remote working.

As the Church of England, we have a major role in realising the vision we are proposing. Because of history, we are one of the largest landowners in the country. Collectively, we hold over 200,000 acres of land and a large stock of historic and many other buildings. But more than that, with 12,500 parishes and 18,000 clergy, we have a committed and continuing presence in every community in this country.

We incarnate Christ’s promise of love and hope, not just through our worship services but by offering food banks, debt advice centres, night shelters and so much more—worship reaches people online. There is precedent also for the Church’s involvement in housing; from almshouses to housing associations, it has for centuries been involved in the provision of decent places to live. We do not do this just to be nice—we are not an NGO with a pointy roof—but because we believe that Christ commands us to love our neighbour.

The Church can and should make a substantial contribution to the housing crisis, using our resources well to serve others. That is why I have submitted a motion to the Church of England’s General Synod, calling on it to recognise that

“addressing housing need and strengthening communities is an integral part of the mission and ministry of the Church of England”.

I am delighted that Bishop Guli Francis-Dehqani, the new Bishop of Chelmsford, has agreed to take up the role of bishop for housing, leading a national executive team in the next stage of the housing commission’s work. I look forward to her joining us in your Lordships’ House this summer.

That is also why the report has challenged the Church Commissioners, part of the Church of England, to consider how the 92,000 acres of land they own can best be used to resolve our housing crisis. It is why we have mapped, through Knight Frank, all Church-owned land across the nation and why we are endeavouring to remove every obstacle that currently stands in the way of parochial church councils, trusts and dioceses when they attempt to use their land well. We are prepared to put our money where our mouth is—some might say that we first have to remove our foot.

The commission has developed five values as a framework for building good housing which enables and encourages strong communities, each value beginning with S. Good housing should be “sustainable”: it should not undermine or harm our precious planet; we are called to be stewards of the Earth. It should be “safe”: our homes must be places where we feel safe, with security and privacy from unwanted intrusion by people, pests, danger or disease. It should be “stable”: our homes should be places where we can put down roots and plan for the future, and where we can build lives, families and communities. It should be “sociable”: we need to be able to offer hospitality to friends, family and neighbours, with public spaces which create strong community bonds. It should be “satisfying”: good houses should be a delight to return to, giving us pleasure and pride, both to live in and to look at. In summary, good homes, affordable for all. Those five values have resonated strongly across the industry, including with those with no connection to faith.

“Good homes, affordable for all”—far too many people live in housing that falls well short of that aim. The National Housing Federation records that 8 million people in England live in unsuitable, unaffordable or unsafe housing. Among them are more children than were in such housing when Ken Loach made “Cathy Come Home” in the 1960s. This number is likely to have risen as a result of the pandemic. This is not just one crisis: housing need looks very different depending on who you are and where you live. It affects many of us, but not equally. The brunt is borne by those who are in the most vulnerable positions—the poorest among us and often those with no voice. It is a national scandal.

My first question is this: will the Government and opposition parties agree with this definition of good housing, as set out by these five values? As a nation, we need an agreed vision, in the same way that we have one for the NHS which is beyond politics.

There is also a sixth S, which runs through this report and needs to be at the core of everyone’s response to the housing crisis: sacrifice. No one, not even government, can solve this on their own. Historic failure under all parties shows that. The Church wants to partner with other institutions on the ground: faith groups, local government, charities, housing associations, developers and anyone else who wants to work with us.

But to transform our housing landscape, there is a need for sacrifice, which will be required from all of us, whether we are individuals inclined to nimbyism, organisations and companies whose primary concern is profit or Governments whose priorities are influenced by short-term election cycles. As the report says, now is the time for a “bold, coherent, long-term” housing vision, which focuses on those who are facing the greatest need and which can be supported by all parties—good housing, affordable for all.

The housing commission makes two key points: first, it defines good housing through the five values; secondly, it calls for a long-term non-partisan strategy to deal with the crisis. The mess we find ourselves in is not the fault of any one Government of the left or right; it is more than 40 years in the making. Simply building more houses will not solve the problem. We cannot build them fast enough to make any meaningful impact on prices and, realistically, what Government would intentionally reduce house prices and thus the housing wealth of a large part of the electorate? Even if they did, electoral cycles are not long enough to incentivise long-term strategic thinking.

The commission has recommended implementing a 20-year strategy for housing to cover both new and existing homes, with a particular focus on those in the most need. So will the Government and opposition parties commit to developing such a strategy, and will they agree to work together to deliver the housing that people in this country so desperately need and deserve—good homes, affordable for all?

In the short term, our social security system, which supports those with no other way to cope, must urgently be reviewed. Families, both out of and in work, are being forced to choose between eating, heating and paying their rent. Also in the short term, we need to ensure longer-term security of tenure, introduce an explicit duty of care on landlords and improve the quality of temporary accommodation. The Grenfell tragedy reminds us of the urgency of removing unsafe cladding from buildings, without the costs falling on leaseholders. The vote in the other place to overturn your Lordships’ clear amendment on this subject was, frankly, a great tragedy and grave error. I will leave it to my right reverend friend the Bishop of Manchester to comment further.

As for the long term, we must build more homes—no one questions that—but there is no use building more homes if people cannot afford to buy or rent them, and then cannot afford to live in them. Affordability is as important as availability. We need a definition of “affordable” that is pegged to income levels and not based on market rates. A long-term strategy for housing needs targets for affordability that mean affordable in the sense that most people mean it—not discounted to market rate but still unobtainable for most. The noble Lord, Lord Best, has done important work on affordability with the Affordable Housing Commission, and I greatly look forward to his contribution today.

In previous Written Questions to the Minister on this topic, I asked what assessment the Government have made of the level of household income that would be needed to afford a home defined as “affordable”, and what assessment they have made of whether their target for the number of affordable homes that they want to see built is sufficient to meet the demand for such homes. The Minister graciously answered, but he did not describe how the cost of housing relates to household income, nor give the overall numbers of affordable homes that are needed. These two factors, essential ingredients for any national housing strategy, have been missing for too long.

So will the Government adopt a definition for affordable housing that is based on income, and will they outline any plans they have to increase the proportion of new homes being built that are genuinely affordable? To bridge the gap between market cost and truly affordable homes, we see no alternative, in the short term, to an immediate increase in public capital subsidy. However, the Coming Home report also sets out how Governments might use the current planning system progressively to reduce land prices and the windfall gains to landowners to share the financial burden of delivering more truly affordable homes. I commend these ideas to the Government for serious consideration.

Land needs to be used to maximise long-term social and environmental benefits, not simply to sell for maximum price. Changes will be needed in charity law if we are to facilitate this across charities generally and I am delighted that the commission has started by seeking to clarify the law around Church land. But, according to data from the Government’s Public Land for Housing programme, only 15% of housing on land sold by the public sector was affordable, and less than 3% was for social rent. We must rethink our principles when public sector land is sold.

The early Church father, St Basil the Great, warned against making

“common need a means of private gain.”

So will all parties commit to ensuring that the law enables the use of all public sector and charitable land to maximise long-term social and environmental values, not just a crude measure of highest price?

Matthew chapter 6, verse 21 reads:

“Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”


I believe that this is a fight for the heart and soul—of the Church of England, yes, but also of our country. Where is our treasure? Is it in shoring up riches for ourselves, or do we say that our treasure is in our neighbours, our communities, those who are impoverished and struggling? Where are our hearts?

In the ruins of the Second World War, a group of people got together to reimagine the heart of the nation after 1945. Many of them—Beveridge, Tawney, my extraordinary predecessor William Temple—were Christians. We can seize the moment, as they did, or we can allow it to slip by and suffer the consequences.

Over the past year, we have seen a disproportionate number of cases of infection and death where people have had to live in unsuitable and overcrowded accommodation. Overcrowded families have struggled to find space to educate their children and to work from home. Outdoor space has been vital to our well-being but often limited to those who can afford a garden. Where we live is connected to our health, our opportunities, our relationships, our education—our capacity for flourishing.

The crisis has revealed the underlying conditions which have exacerbated the devastating effects of the pandemic. It is the poorest and most marginalised people among us who are suffering the burden of the housing crisis, and that will change only if we take collective responsibility and action.

This has been a lot of words—far more than noble Lords wished to hear from me today, I am sure—but I am adamant that the work of this commission cannot result simply in words. There has to be action—in the Church and elsewhere. There must be change. Good homes available for all is a moral imperative.

As the report shows, the Bible is a story of home—from the Garden of Eden to the new Jerusalem. God cares deeply about how we live here on earth, and I am determined to be part of a Church—and pray that I might be part of a country—that channels that care. Millions of people have stayed in their homes to protect their fellow human beings this year. Let us repay them by making sure that everyone has a home which is sustainable, safe, secure, sociable and satisfying.

This report is a challenge to us all. Sacrifice is never easy, but the example of Jesus Christ, which we remember in this season, shows us that it is transformational. The Church is determined to play its role in meeting this challenge. Let us work together to make good housing affordable for all a cornerstone in the architecture of post-Covid Britain. I beg to move.

--- Later in debate ---

[The Archbishop of Canterbury]

My Lords, it is a huge challenge to draw together so many extraordinarily high-quality contributions. I ask noble Lords to forgive me for failing to mention everything and everyone. Although technically I have an hour and 18 minutes, I have a funny feeling that noble Lords would appreciate it if I did not use more than a small fraction of that.

When I first joined your Lordships’ House as the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Durham, in 2011, my stepfather, a Labour Back-Bencher in the House of Lords, said, “Just remember, every time you speak, there will be a world expert listening to you.” That was just to encourage me, I think. This debate has demonstrated that. The quality of the contributions and insights has been remarkable, so I will try to pick up a few.

There has been considerable support, from almost everyone who has spoken—the Minister did not say it, but I interpret it as implicit—for the idea that all parties should be committed to good homes, affordable for all. The five “S”s are genuinely catching people’s imagination, together with the sixth “S” of sacrifice, which is indispensable to making value, as the noble Baroness, Lady Andrews, said.

Other key things that came through particularly were around affordability. At this point, I pick up a slight sense of disappointment with the Minister’s answer —I trust he will forgive me—in his reluctance to commit to working out a definition of affordability. I said in my opening speech that I was looking forward to hearing the noble Lord, Lord Best, and we were certainly not disappointed by his remarkable speech. It was a powerful contribution. He and every noble Lord said that the issue is affordability. This also comes back to the thought-provoking and insightful speech by the noble Lord, Lord Lilley, who made some powerful points. Have I run out of time already?

[A noble Lord]

No, not guilty.

[The Archbishop of Canterbury]

Of course, the whole way through, the report implies—and, from time to time, says—that we need much greater supply, but the issue is not simply supply; it is supply of affordable houses. If Rolls-Royce built a million more Rolls-Royces a year but kept the price the same, it would not make cars easier for people to get hold of—

[A noble Lord]

They would be very cheap so you would have fewer houses, would you not?

[The Archbishop of Canterbury]

Possibly; it depends what they did with them. The problem with land is that it is banked. It is not put on the market. There is a real shortage of land; that came out in a number of speeches. This comes from planning issues, which the Minister has said that the Government are addressing. We look forward to that.

However, it also comes from a lack of restrictions as to what sort of homes are built. In the absence of a clear definition of “affordability”, we will have a continued problem with the inadequacy of affordable homes. All things being equal, higher supply should ameliorate house price growth, but all things are not equal: the land and housing markets are not efficient, and inefficient markets produce oddities in pricing mechanisms. It is not a free and efficient market. The noble Lord can shake his head, but it genuinely is not—you only have to look at how it operates.

Successive Governments have set successively higher housebuilding targets, yet the ratio of house prices to incomes continues to move ever higher, which illustrates the inefficiency of the market. As a direct consequence, while 3 million homes have been built in the last 20 years, there has been an increase of 2.5 million in the number of homes owned by landlords and let privately. It is in this sector that tenants struggle most profoundly with affordability. Do we want to see another 2.5 million privately rented tenancies in 20 years’ time? If not, should we not, as the commission recommends, focus as much as possible on the affordability of what is built and not just on the increase in stock?

With my background in the oil industry, I know that oil is a very efficient market—as, for that matter, is foreign exchange, which I also dealt with a great deal. An increase or fall in supply is the generator of a change in price. However, when you see a market where an increase in supply is not causing a fall in price, you have to ask questions.

Of course, there is a level of new build that would completely solve the affordability problem by materially reducing current prices. However, the commission did not believe that this was a very likely or politically possible strategy for any Government. It was in that context that the commission thought it disingenuous to imply that housebuilding alone would address affordability. That is the background. I hope that it answers some of the questions that the noble Lord, Lord Lilley, quite rightly put; they were some of the most insightful in the debate.

Therefore, the idea that we can leave affordability in the hands of the very local—I do believe in localism—without saying that it must be based on incomes and not simply on a discount to local prices, seems to me to be one that will not deal with the issue of affordability. We have to find a commonly agreed definition, which can then be applied locally.

I welcome the numerous warm comments about the five values and the general aim of good homes affordable for all. This gives the grounds for possible cross-party work. The noble Baroness, Lady Grender, asked how we get people together. I suspect we invite them to my little house just across the river and give them a good meal. In my experience, this tends to be helpful and to produce good outcomes.

I found the speech from the noble Lord, Lord Kennedy, profoundly moving and very beautiful. He addressed many of the points made by other noble Lords so therefore I will not pick those up again.

As I come to the end of my remarks, having missed out a lot of things that probably should have been said, I have just one point. The Secretary of State came to Lambeth to meet some members of the commission, including myself, in October last year, so it was not a very recent meeting, and the report was not finished. Both the Secretary of State and the Housing Minister have said in the last month that they were a bit too busy to discuss anything with the commission, although we did approach them. Perhaps they will find more time in their diaries as time goes by.

The noble Baroness, Lady Stroud, was extremely powerful on planning and other issues of accessibility and affordability, as was the noble Baroness, Lady Gardner of Parkes, pointing particularly to the planning issue.

I am delighted with the comment that there will be more stringent rules about the nature of beautiful housing—I warmly welcome that. The old saying is that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but that will be transformed so that beauty will be in the rules of Whitehall. This can only improve the general outlook for housebuilding in this country under numerous Governments in the future.

There are a couple of questions for consideration by the Minister over time. Equality of opportunity came out in the speech from the noble Lord, Lord Kennedy, and we also have to think very hard about disability. There is a real weakness in our building of accessible housing.

I welcome very strongly the Minister’s commitment to try to get the Treasury to meet people who are dealing with the issue of cladding. If you happen to live in a building that is below 18 metres, it is a very major issue indeed. A lot of people are totally caught by the fact that there is not an extra storey on their building, which would have got them the help that, by mere happenstance, they do not get.

To answer the noble Lord, Lord Birt, about selling glebe at maximum value, our problem is that the legal advice we have from some, though not all, lawyers—and this comes back to the numerous comments on the need to review charity law—is that the management of glebe must maximise the financial value of that land. This will often mean selling stuff that we really do not want to sell in our heart of hearts. There have been numerous instances in the papers recently.

I will certainly commit to supporting the abolition of the Vagrancy Act. I agree with the Minister when he says that it should be consigned to history—or to the bin, I think.

[Lord Greenhalgh (Con)]

I said the dustbin.

[The Archbishop of Canterbury]

Consigned to the dustbin—if he is allowed to do so.

To conclude, I thank noble Lords for their remarkable speeches today, their insight and the challenge to the Church, which we will seek to rise to. I particularly thank those who have mentioned Archbishop Temple, one of my great heroes, and the Faith in the City report. It says something that a report written by the Church of England 36 years ago should still come to mind. That is remarkable.

Now there really is a bell ringing, and I must pay attention to it. It has come at just the right time—noble Lords are saved by the bell. I beg to move.

Motion agreed.