Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking to help increase access to home ownership for (a) homeless and (b) displaced people.
Answered by Rushanara Ali - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Homelessness and rough sleeping levels are far too high. This can have a devastating impact on those affected.
We are taking action by setting up a dedicated Inter-Ministerial Group, which the Deputy Prime Minister will chair, to develop a long-term strategy to put us back on track to ending homelessness.
We are also taking action to address homelessness by delivering the biggest increase in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation and building 1.5 million new homes, as well as abolishing Section 21 'no fault' evictions for renters, and empowering people to challenge unreasonable rent increases.
In addition to increasing the supply of homes of all tenures, we are committed to helping more people into home ownership by introducing a permanent, comprehensive mortgage guarantee scheme and to giving first-time buyers the first chance to buy homes.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking to support residents of buildings with unsafe cladding.
Answered by Rushanara Ali - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government is committed to protecting qualifying leaseholders from the costs of fixing historic building safety defects that were not their fault. Legislation has been introduced to ensure that qualifying leaseholders are both protected from costs and can pursue building owners and developers for contributions to fix these issues. Pathways are in place for all residential buildings over 11 meters in England to fix unsafe cladding through government funds, developer contributions, or registered providers of social housing.
Too many buildings still have unsafe cladding, and the pace of remediation has been too slow. Any building owner who fails to make their building safe faces enforcement action. The Code of Practice for the Remediation of Residential Buildings requires all remediation projects to treat residents as key stakeholder in the remediation process.
Government continues to put residents at the heart of the building safety agenda and conducts fortnightly building visits to engage residents to better understand their experiences and to support them.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking to (a) end Section 21 evictions and (b) support tenants facing eviction under a Section 21 notice before that time.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government introduced the Renters’ Rights Bill on Wednesday 11 September. It delivers on our manifesto commitment to overhaul the regulation of the private rented sector, including by abolishing Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions.
We want to see tenants benefit from these reforms as quickly as possible. We have therefore determined to introduce the new tenancy system for the private rented sector in one stage. Upon the commencement date, the new tenancy system will apply to all private tenancies – existing tenancies will become periodic, and any new tenancies will be governed by the new rules.
Tenants facing eviction and threatened with homelessness as a result of being served a Section 21 notice should contact their local council, who if satisfied the applicant is threatened with homelessness and eligible must take reasonable steps to help them secure appropriate accommodation.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate her Department has made of the number of households in receipt of the single person council tax discount that are set to lose Winter Fuel Payments.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government does not collect data on the individual characteristics, or benefits received, of residents of households receiving a single person council tax discount.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what plans her Department has to work with the voluntary and community sector to help end homelessness.
Answered by Rushanara Ali - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Deputy Prime Minister is responsible for cross-governmental coordination of policy to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping and will update in due course.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what discussions she has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on Rough Sleeping Initiative Funding beyond March 2025.
Answered by Rushanara Ali - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Deputy Prime Minister is responsible for cross-governmental coordination of policy to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping and will update in due course.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the removal of the single-person council tax discount on (a) under-thirties and (b) pensioners.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government currently has no plans to reform council tax. Decisions on future local authority funding will be a matter for the next Spending Review and Local Government Finance Settlement in which we are engaged.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many and what proportion of households that receive the single person council tax discount are (a) widows and (b) widows of retirement age.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government does not collect data on the individual characteristics, or benefits received, of residents of households receiving a single person council tax discount.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department will take to help protect victims of domestic abuse who have joint tenancies in social housing.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government is committed to ensuring that, where appropriate, barriers preventing vulnerable groups in need from accessing social housing are removed. We will continue to work with stakeholders to support victims of domestic abuse to access social housing, including those who have joint tenancies.
Local housing authorities can adopt local connections tests to determine who qualifies for an allocation of social housing and manage demand within their area. Statutory social housing allocations guidance is clear that local authorities have the power to exempt victims of domestic abuse from any such test. This includes those living in a refuge or other forms of safe temporary accommodation in their district having escaped domestic abuse in another local authority area.
Guidance also encourages local authorities to give priority for social housing to victims and their families who have escaped abuse and are being accommodated in a refuge or temporary accommodation under the reasonable preference (priority) categories. Further, allocations guidance encourages local authorities to give additional preference (high priority) to people who are homeless and require urgent rehousing due to domestic abuse.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department plans to take to ensure that local authorities do not apply local connection tests to victims of domestic abuse.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government is committed to ensuring that, where appropriate, barriers preventing vulnerable groups in need from accessing social housing are removed. We will continue to work with stakeholders to support victims of domestic abuse to access social housing, including those who have joint tenancies.
Local housing authorities can adopt local connections tests to determine who qualifies for an allocation of social housing and manage demand within their area. Statutory social housing allocations guidance is clear that local authorities have the power to exempt victims of domestic abuse from any such test. This includes those living in a refuge or other forms of safe temporary accommodation in their district having escaped domestic abuse in another local authority area.
Guidance also encourages local authorities to give priority for social housing to victims and their families who have escaped abuse and are being accommodated in a refuge or temporary accommodation under the reasonable preference (priority) categories. Further, allocations guidance encourages local authorities to give additional preference (high priority) to people who are homeless and require urgent rehousing due to domestic abuse.