Asked by: Richard Burden (Labour - Birmingham, Northfield)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the number of people who (a) have received and (b) will receive support through the Housing First scheme in (i) the West Midlands, (ii) Birmingham and (iii) Birmingham Northfield constituency.
Answered by Nigel Adams
The £28 million Housing First pilots will support around 1000 individuals over three years in the West Midlands, Greater Manchester, and the Liverpool City Region. The first people to be helped will move into their homes from the Autumn. We will ensure that the pilots help those in the greatest need.
Asked by: Richard Burden (Labour - Birmingham, Northfield)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will list the housing associations with properties within (a) Birmingham Northfield constituency and (b) Birmingham who are eligible for the Voluntary Right to Buy Midlands pilot scheme for housing association tenants; and how many tenants he estimates will take part in that scheme in both of those areas.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Voluntary Right to Buy Midlands Pilot will be launching later in the summer, and ahead of the launch we will announce details of the housing associations who will be taking part in the pilot, and how eligible tenants will be able to apply for the scheme.
Asked by: Richard Burden (Labour - Birmingham, Northfield)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will list the housing associations within Birmingham Northfield constituency that are eligible for the regional pilot of the Right to Buy for housing association tenants.
Answered by Dominic Raab
The Voluntary Right to Buy Midlands pilot will give thousands more housing association tenants the opportunity to enjoy the benefits of home ownership. The Government is currently engaging with the National Housing Federation and housing associations in the Midlands, and more details on the pilot will be announced in due course.
Asked by: Richard Burden (Labour - Birmingham, Northfield)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent representations he has received from Birmingham City Council on funding to carry out extensive works to 213 tower blocks on the advice of West Midlands Fire Service; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Dominic Raab
The Department has received and responded to several letters from Birmingham City councillors about general works they are undertaking to enhance the safety of their residential blocks.
If any local authority has carried out assessments and identified essential measures to address building specific issues, then they should get in touch with the Department with further details. This will allow Department officials to discuss the position and work with them on the way forward.
Asked by: Richard Burden (Labour - Birmingham, Northfield)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what recent assessment he has made of trends in the level of rough sleeping in (a) Birmingham, (b) the West Midlands and (c) England; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Marcus Jones
This Government is determined to do more to reduce the number of people sleeping rough. We have established a new Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Implementation Taskforce, chaired by the Secretary of State, which will drive forward the implementation of a cross-Government strategy to tackle this issue.
We have allocated over £1 billion up to 2020 to support these efforts including piloting a Housing First approach for the most entrenched rough sleepers in the 3 major areas of England – the West Midlands Combined Authority, Greater Manchester and the Liverpool City Region.
From April 2018 we are implementing the Homelessness Reduction Act, the biggest change to homelessness legislation in decades, which will require councils to provide early support to people at risk of homelessness and rough sleeping.
DCLG publishes regular statistics on rough sleeping which are published at national, London and local authority level. The latest statistics can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/homelessness-statistics
Asked by: Richard Burden (Labour - Birmingham, Northfield)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to support improved energy-efficiency in (a) newbuild homes, and (b) existing properties.
Answered by Lord Sharma
The Government’s Clean Growth Strategy, published in October 2017, sets out our ambitions for improving the energy performance of all buildings including new homes and existing properties.
Energy performance requirements for new homes in building regulations were most recently strengthened in 2010 and 2014. As a result of these changes home builders are required to deliver highly efficient homes that typically reduce energy bills by £200 a year, compared to homes built before 2010.
As part of this, and following the outcome of Dame Judith Hackitt’s independent review of Building Regulations and fire safety, we will consult on improving energy requirements for new homes and existing properties where the evidence suggests that there are cost effective and affordable opportunities, and it is safe and practical to do.