Ending Homelessness Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
Nadia Whittome
Main Page: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)Department Debates - View all Nadia Whittome's debates with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
Ending Homelessness
Nadia Whittome Excerpts(1 day, 23 hours ago)
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Nadia Whittome (Nottingham East) (Lab)
The UK’s homelessness crisis has been decades in the making. Thanks to Thatcher selling off social housing, a large proportion of our country is now at the mercy of private landlords—like those in my constituency who issued section 21 notices to three buildings on Mansfield Road, putting dozens at risk of homelessness.
Low pay and low levels of benefits compared with soaring rents make it even harder for people to access the private rented sector at all, and we have the scandal of children growing up in hotels. I welcome the Renters’ Rights Bill to shift the balance of power towards tenants and away from landlords, and the Government’s commitment to build 1.5 million homes, but we cannot rely on private house builders to build the genuinely affordable homes that we need. The Government must implement a mass public house building programme of homes for social rent.
When I was on the Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Committee, I repeatedly questioned the previous Government on why they refused to set a target on new homes for social rent. Our Government must set a target of at least 90,000 homes a year and ensure that they are built. Right to buy must also be scrapped. The action to tackle no-fault evictions in the Renters’ Rights Bill is essential, but landlords can evict by the back door by putting up the rent instead. We should be looking seriously at rent controls to stop the scandal of ever-growing rents gobbling up a higher proportion of people’s wages and costing a fortune in housing benefit—which, of course, needs to rise with rents; that is something the Government must commit to.
In the meantime, there are immediate steps that we can take to ease homelessness for those at the sharpest end while we tackle the structural issues. I was privileged to spend time with the street outreach team in Nottingham, who highlighted the need for more permanent shelters that are easier to access and that could support people with more complex needs. We also talked about the need for more housing like Grove House in Nottingham, which is made up of self-contained units for women with complex needs and provides wraparound support.