Asked by: Lucy Powell (Labour (Co-op) - Manchester Central)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, pursuant to the Answer of 8 November 2021 to Question 69091 on Housing: Insulation, of the 27 homes of which Homes England received less than the equity loan originally lent, what the (a) mean and (b) median difference was between the loan that was lent and the amount that was paid back.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
Regarding the 27 homes in relation to which Homes England received less than the equity loan originally lent, Homes England responded to a more recent Request for Information (dated 10 Sept 21) in which 36 schemes were identified. On these 36 schemes, Homes England calculate the mean and median to be:
Mean: £13,234
Median: £6,500
Asked by: Lucy Powell (Labour (Co-op) - Manchester Central)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, pursuant to the Answer of 8 November 2021 to Question 69091 on Housing: Insulation, what estimate he has made of the number of homes with outstanding help to buy loans that are affected by non-ACM cladding.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
Information on the number of Help to Buy equity loan properties with unsafe ACM cladding can be found in the National Audit Office's report entitled Investigation into remediating dangerous cladding on high-rise buildings, which is available at: https://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Investigation-into-remediating-dangerous-cladding-on-high-rise-buildings.pdf.
Asked by: Lucy Powell (Labour (Co-op) - Manchester Central)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of the (a) value for money of service charges collected by housing associations and (b) adequacy of the rights of tenants to challenge those charges.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
The Government believes very strongly that service charges should be transparent and communicated effectively. All service charges must be set in line with the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, with service charges payable only when the costs are reasonable. The law is clear that service charges and any increase in costs must be reasonable and, where costs relate to work or services, the work or services must be of a reasonable standard. This applies equally to social housing tenants.
The Government's policy statement on rents for social housing (published in February 2019) encourages registered providers of social housing to keep increases for services charges within CPI+1% per annum, to help keep charges affordable.
We also believe that there should be a clear route to challenge or redress if things go wrong. Both leaseholders and social housing tenants have the ability to apply to the Property Chamber of the First-tier Tribunal for a determination where they do not believe the charges are reasonable, and must be consulted when major works are being proposed.
Asked by: Lucy Powell (Labour (Co-op) - Manchester Central)
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 encourage housing associations to share fire and similar safety assessments with tenants and residents.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The Building Safety Bill requires Accountable Persons to provide residents of high-rise buildings with information about safety measures in their building. This includes fire safety information that will include the risks to residents identified by the fire risk assessment and the preventative and protective measures in place. Residents will be able to request further safety information from the Accountable Person.
As building owners, housing associations will need to identify an Accountable Person and provide relevant safety information. Residents will be able to request further safety information from the Accountable Person.
Asked by: Lucy Powell (Labour (Co-op) - Manchester Central)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what the value of the loan book was for Help to Buy for each of the last 12 months.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
Information on the number of properties bought with a Help to Buy Equity Loan and the total value of these loans is published regularly through the Help to Buy Quarterly statistical release, available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/help-to-buy-equity-loan-scheme-data-to-31-march-2021/help-to-buy-equity-loan-scheme-data-to-31-march-2021
Help to Buy repayment statistics can be found on page 52 of Homes England's annual report and financial statements, available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1004648/Homes_England_Annual_Report_and_Financial_Statements_2020_21_web-optimised.pdf.
Asked by: Lucy Powell (Labour (Co-op) - Manchester Central)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what estimate he has made of the number of homes with outstanding help to buy loans that are affected by cladding.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
Information on the number of Help to Buy equity loan properties with ACM cladding can be found in the NAO's report entitled Investigation into remediating dangerous cladding on high-rise buildings, which is available at: https://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Investigation-into-remediating-dangerous-cladding-on-high-rise-buildings.pdf
Asked by: Lucy Powell (Labour (Co-op) - Manchester Central)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether the £65 million support package for vulnerable renters announced in October 2021 will be made available for renters with no recourse to public funds.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
The Government announced a £65 million top up to the Homelessness Prevention Grant in October to help vulnerable renters hit hardest by the pandemic from becoming homeless. The primary purpose of this exceptional one-off payment is to support low-income private renters with COVID-19 related rent arrears either by preventing eviction or by helping them to find a new home.
As with the existing Homelessness Prevention Grant, local authorities have flexibility to use this funding to meet this objective in the most appropriate way to meet local pressures. We are encouraging local authorities to use this money to support renters in the private rented sector; however Homelessness Prevention Grant funding can also be used to prevent homelessness from the social rented sector.
This funding is available for those eligible for statutory homelessness assistance and is not available for renters with no recourse to public funds. Whilst we recognise that supporting individuals with restricted eligibility can be challenging, local authorities must continue to use their judgement in assessing what support they may lawfully give to each person on an individual basis, considering that person's specific circumstances and support needs.
Asked by: Lucy Powell (Labour (Co-op) - Manchester Central)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what proportion of the £65 million support package for vulnerable renters announced in October 2021 will be available for private renters.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
The Government announced a £65 million top up to the Homelessness Prevention Grant in October to help vulnerable renters hit hardest by the pandemic from becoming homeless. The primary purpose of this exceptional one-off payment is to support low-income private renters with COVID-19 related rent arrears either by preventing eviction or by helping them to find a new home.
As with the existing Homelessness Prevention Grant, local authorities have flexibility to use this funding to meet this objective in the most appropriate way to meet local pressures. We are encouraging local authorities to use this money to support renters in the private rented sector; however Homelessness Prevention Grant funding can also be used to prevent homelessness from the social rented sector.
This funding is available for those eligible for statutory homelessness assistance and is not available for renters with no recourse to public funds. Whilst we recognise that supporting individuals with restricted eligibility can be challenging, local authorities must continue to use their judgement in assessing what support they may lawfully give to each person on an individual basis, considering that person's specific circumstances and support needs.
Asked by: Lucy Powell (Labour (Co-op) - Manchester Central)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether local authorities will be able to support both social tenants and private renters with the £65 million support package for vulnerable renters announced in October 2021.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
The Government announced a £65 million top up to the Homelessness Prevention Grant in October to help vulnerable renters hit hardest by the pandemic from becoming homeless. The primary purpose of this exceptional one-off payment is to support low-income private renters with COVID-19 related rent arrears either by preventing eviction or by helping them to find a new home.
As with the existing Homelessness Prevention Grant, local authorities have flexibility to use this funding to meet this objective in the most appropriate way to meet local pressures. We are encouraging local authorities to use this money to support renters in the private rented sector; however Homelessness Prevention Grant funding can also be used to prevent homelessness from the social rented sector.
This funding is available for those eligible for statutory homelessness assistance and is not available for renters with no recourse to public funds. Whilst we recognise that supporting individuals with restricted eligibility can be challenging, local authorities must continue to use their judgement in assessing what support they may lawfully give to each person on an individual basis, considering that person's specific circumstances and support needs.
Asked by: Lucy Powell (Labour (Co-op) - Manchester Central)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to the Autumn Budget and Spending Review 2021 p107, if he will provide a detailed breakdown of the funding that makes up the £24 billion for housing stated in that Review.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
At the Spending Review, the Government announced nearly £24 billion for housing between 2022-23 and 2025-26. This included £17.7 billion for housing supply programmes, £3 billion for home ownership and £3 billion for building safety. This funding demonstrates the Government’s continued commitment to investing in safe and affordable housing, delivering the homes the country needs.