Lord Harrington of Watford
Main Page: Lord Harrington of Watford (Conservative - Life peer)Prevention of Social Housing Fraud Bill
Lord Harrington of Watford Excerpts
Richard Harrington (Watford) (Con)
I beg to move, That the Bill be now read a Second time.
I was very fortunate to be drawn in the ballot for private Members’ Bills in a position where I felt I could do something that would make a difference to people’s lives. I know that everybody says that when they do well in the ballot, but I realised that it was important to do something in an area in which I had some interest in the past and in which I believed I could build a consensus in the House. My short experience has told me that that is the best way to make any progress. I thank Members in all parts of the House who have helped me with the Bill, including the current and previous Governments. Having been through most of my right hon. and hon. Friends and colleagues, I can say that I have had unanimous support.
The Bill has one clear objective—to prevent the fraudulent use of social housing, which has gone on for so long. Constituents and others who wrote in once the Bill had received some publicity found it strange that illegally sub-letting social housing—a flat or house that formerly would have been known as a council house and which is now part of social housing—is not a criminal offence.
Mr David Nuttall (Bury North) (Con)
I congratulate my hon. Friend on his success in the ballot. He mentions that the problem has been going on for a long time. Is there any particular reason why he felt it necessary to introduce the Bill now? Is the problem getting worse? How have we managed without such a measure for so long?
Richard Harrington
My hon. Friend, as usual, makes a considered point. I do not quite know the answer. I do not know why the problem has not been dealt with before. When researching the subject, I noticed that it had been talked about for a long time. Bodies such as the Serious Fraud Office and the National Audit Office have identified the problem, and for years Governments have had it on their mind, but it is one of those small things that slip through the net of legislation.
Mr James Clappison (Hertsmere) (Con)
An important question has been put to my hon. Friend on this point. Is he aware that in a consultation carried out with housing associations, which are obviously very worried about the problem, they identified as one of the main concerns in this area the lack of sufficient deterrent penalties available for people who engage in such activity and thereby enrich themselves?
Richard Harrington
I am aware of the consultation. Having researched the matter, I know that the problem has increased over the years, as my hon. Friend the Member for Bury North (Mr Nuttall) suggested. I hope that there is a general consensus that it is time to do something about it. My hon. Friend the Member for Hertsmere (Mr Clappison) has been in the House since 1992 and so might remember speeches and contributions right hon. and hon. Members have made on the subject. Like my hon. Friend the Member for Bury North, I was quite surprised that it has not been included in legislation by this Government, the previous one, or indeed the one before that. In my humble way, I can simply deal with the problem as it is today.
Clearly there is a problem. This type of sub-letting is something I am sure the public think is a criminal offence. It is an outrage that an estimated 150,000 social housing tenants—50,000 is the most conservative figure, but the National Audit Office’s estimate is 150,000—are illegally sub-letting their properties. Typically, it is done by someone who qualifies for a social tenancy because they have the necessary points in the scoring system. They sign a contract with a social housing provider but then illegally sub-let it to a tenant, who in many cases pays a market rent for the property, and then pockets the difference between that rent and either what they are paying themselves or what is being paid as part of their housing benefit.
That is not simply taking advantage of the situation financially; it also means—in many ways this is a worse aspect—that a family who are on a waiting list and would be entitled to the property cannot occupy it. I know from correspondence with hon. Members across the House that this is a problem in their constituencies; I know of no area where it is not a problem. The shadow Minister, in my discussions with him, explained that he thinks it is a greater problem in the London area, but that is only because properties in London are rented out in the private sector at a much higher rate. I have yet to meet a Member of the House who is not aware of this being a problem in their constituency.
Sir Roger Gale (North Thanet) (Con)
Does my hon. Friend accept that this is a problem not only in high-rent areas? East Kent has some of the highest levels of social deprivation in the whole south-east—indeed, they are some of the highest levels in the country—and families who have been on the waiting list for a very long time find it deeply offensive that this kind of practice goes on in low-rent as well as high-rent areas.
Richard Harrington
I agree absolutely with my hon. Friend. I know that it is a problem in Scotland, Wales and other places a long way from London, but I think that the numbers are accentuated in the central London area, and in terms not just of the total volume of social housing property, but of the value of the rent. The problem is still the same. It is depriving people who are entitled to social housing and in desperate need of it and who, in many cases, are having to live in really sub-standard temporary accommodation, which is a burden to them and comes at a high cost to the taxpayer. It is keeping very suitable properties provided in the social housing field from them, and I think that it is very wrong.
What would the Bill do? It would create some new criminal offences of sub-letting social housing without permission. It would introduce appropriate penalties, ranging from a fine to a maximum custodial sentence of two years, in order to provide a proper and correct punishment and also an effective deterrent. It would allow local authorities to prosecute for offences in the Bill on behalf of housing associations and other local authorities. It would allow social landlords to recover the profits made by tenants who sub-let their property without permission. If such activity is a criminal racket and people have made money out of it, the Bill would allow social landlords to recover the money. It would make it easier for housing associations to gain possession of a property from tenants who have moved back in having previously illegally sub-let it, because that is something that has been reported a lot.
In promoting the Bill, I am trying to outline why I believe these measures are most effective in creating the right legislation to deal with this problem. There is no point making the effort and for the Bill to become law without it once and for all dealing with the problem, but it should not do so too severely, by victimising genuine social housing tenants or those who have a reason for temporarily not living in their property, because life is like that, and there are genuine reasons. A lot of thought has therefore gone into the Bill, and I thank the Department for Communities and Local Government, and Opposition Members who encountered the issue when they were Ministers, for their help in creating what we believe is sensible and balanced legislation.
In my own world of Watford, the Watford Community Housing Trust has been helpful, and I have consulted it regularly. In a letter to me early on in my time as a Member, it outlined several measures that it thought would make a difference in preventing social housing fraud, and each one is covered in the Bill. With due respect to colleagues, we hear things from a certain angle, so I have tried my best to speak to people in housing associations and local authorities who deal with these issues on the ground, because as things filter upwards they can be changed; there might be political factors and things can be sanitised. I hope that I have included both levels of the issue, and I thank Ruairi McCourt of the Watford Community Housing Trust for his helping in dealing with it.
It was unbelievable to me, as a new Member dealing with constituents for the first time, to find that so much of our constituency work involved dealing with extensive social housing waiting lists. I am sure that colleagues from all parts of the House have heard similar stories, but properties owned by housing associations are sub-let by tenants, often on the private market and in estate agents’ windows, in all our constituencies. I had seen it with my own eyes, but little seemed to have been done to marry the two issues, so I was grateful this year when the Government, based on work that they and the previous Government had done, launched a consultation on social housing fraud and started to look seriously at criminalising the activity I have been talking about.
I was a little naive about the way things worked, however, because I thought, “Ah! There will be consultation, then it will become legislation.” I have since learned that things do not always work like that, and to my frustration it was not possible to pass any legislation—or at least not until now. So when I was given an opportunity to introduce a private Member’s Bill, I really wanted to introduce this one. However much my political career to date and in future may lack an illustrious aspect, whatever may or may not happen electorally, and whatever I may or may not contribute to the House, I should like to feel that this Bill is going to become law, and that my name will go down in one little footnote in history—not to make a political point, but because I believe that this legislation is an important part of social justice.
The Bill represents a little gap in the market, but like so many small things that are debated in the House, it will have a significant effect on people’s lives and remedy not just an injustice to all of us as taxpayers who fund what is happening, but a real injustice to people throughout the country who are desperate for social housing and are told that there is a four or five-year waiting list, while people who do not deserve it occupy properties and people who pretend that they deserve it profit from it. I am very pleased to have the opportunity to do something about that.
Rebecca Harris (Castle Point) (Con)
I very much congratulate my hon. Friend on introducing the Bill. I hope that he gets that footnote in history, because if he is responsible for taking even only one family off the housing list or out of temporary accommodation, he will have done a great service to the many people throughout the country, in my constituency and in everyone else’s, who we know are waiting desperately for social housing.
Richard Harrington
I thank my hon. Friend for her comments.
I find it strange that many other types of social housing fraud are already criminal offences. It is well known that making fraudulent right-to-buy applications, lying on forms when applying for social homes and misrepresenting financial circumstances to obtain social housing are all caught by criminal legislation, but sub-letting is important, because the authorities perceive it to be the most prevalent abuse and it has never been included in such legislation.
Mr Nuttall
My hon. Friend could be forgiven for not knowing the answer to this question, but I hope that he may able to assist me. As we have heard in his excellent speech, this problem is prevalent throughout the country. What action has been taken in the past when it has occurred? Surely the courts and the police could have prosecuted for offences such as obtaining a pecuniary advantage by deception.
Richard Harrington
I will make every attempt to answer my hon. Friend’s question. There are two answers. First, it is possible to bring prosecutions for fraud under the Theft Act 1968. He mentioned obtaining pecuniary advantage by deception, which is what the offence was called when I last studied law in 1979, but that may have changed; I was not very good at the subject then, and I am certainly a lot worse now. I think that there have been some criminal prosecutions. However, I know from speaking to people at the housing associations and enforcement officers at local authorities that it is quite hard to prove in court that there was a fraudulent intent. Far too many cases of blatant abuse have not gone through the necessary hoops to be caught by the Theft Act but are still basically fraudulent in the context of my argument.
The second answer to my hon. Friend’s question is that—
Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Nigel Evans)
Order. I know that it is difficult, but could the hon. Gentleman please address the House so that his voice is properly picked up and everybody can hear it?
Richard Harrington
Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. Obviously if the choice is between facing you and facing my hon. Friend, there is no contest.
Richard Harrington
I was brought up in an old-fashioned way and told that it was rude to speak to people with one’s back to them, but clearly that is not the case in this House. I apologise and will proceed to face you at all times, Sir.
The second answer to my hon. Friend, to whom my back is now turned, is that until now the main way of dealing with this matter has been through civil proceedings. Those have proved very inadequate because, at best, the council or housing association will get vacant possession of the property, but that does not provide a deterrent or punishment or prevent the people involved from going somewhere else in the country and doing the same thing.
Nick de Bois (Enfield North) (Con)
This is a particularly big problem in Enfield. My hon. Friend may be interested to know, further to the comment by my hon. Friend the Member for Bury North (Mr Nuttall), that last April Enfield council managed to secure a prosecution on the basis of representations dishonestly made—in effect, fraud—and the person in question received a suspended sentence. The current way of proceeding is unsatisfactory because it means going to extraordinary lengths to find a means of bringing people to account. My hon. Friend’s Bill is therefore well timed in providing us with a much more straightforward process.
Richard Harrington
I am grateful to my hon. Friend for that intervention. I had heard of the Enfield case he mentions. The fact that it was reported makes it very rare. The authorities in Enfield were delighted that they had managed to get through all the different hoops despite the fact that it is very difficult for them to deal with these cases, of which there are many, as elsewhere in the country, with the weapons they have available. The Bill would help the authorities in Enfield and elsewhere that have been pursuing such cases. It would give them teeth and ensure that they do not have such difficulties in proving their case before a court and then end up allowing people to escape following blatant misuse of their social tenancies.
The National Fraud Office estimates that such social tenancy fraud costs the Exchequer and taxpayers over £900 million a year. I do not know how it arrived at that figure, because the nature of the crime makes it difficult to work out how widespread it is. However, one can understand its having done so given that most conservative estimates predict that about 50,000 properties are affected, while some say that the figure is 150,000.
As I have said, the level of such fraud differs across the country. Where there are bigger profit margins, it is more commonplace. As I mentioned to my hon. Friend the Member for North Thanet (Sir Roger Gale), it is most prevalent in London. Westminster city council estimates that up to 5% of London’s social housing stock is sub-let. That is a huge amount.
In my constituency of Watford, a family living in a three-bed social housing property pay £111 a week in rent. A similar property on the market would cost £263 a week. If such a property was sub-let, it could make the person letting it a profit of more than £150 a week. That assumes that they are paying for the social rent. If it was paid for through housing benefit, the entire £263 a week would be kept. We are talking about profits of £7,000 to £15,000 a year with no tax. That is appalling, especially as there are 4,000 people on the waiting list in Watford. People wait for years for social housing to become available. This is an absolute affront.
While researching this subject, I chaired a useful seminar that was attended by a large number of leading organisations, mainly local authorities and housing associations. I heard several horror stories from local authorities. One organisation showed me their properties being sub-let on the websites of letting agents. That is being done brazenly and openly, not in the corner of a pub. People are saying, “This is my property and I’m going to let it out,” despite the fact that others are crying out for such properties. That has to be stopped.
People sub-let such properties for different reasons. On a small scale, some people sub-let their house while they are abroad for the month. I am not really concerned about that. I am concerned about the most extreme cases, which involve organised criminal gangs operating on a large scale. They get people to put themselves on the waiting list and help them to qualify, with the sole intention of providing the base for a fraud.
Housing associations, local authorities and Governments have not been blind to these issues over recent years. The right hon. Member for Wentworth and Dearne (John Healey), who dealt with this issue under the previous Government, has been extremely helpful to me, although he is not in his place today. He and the current Minister for Housing and Local Government have made significant improvements in the rate of detection and the number of properties recovered by providing funding to help the officers of local authorities and housing associations track down fraud.
Peabody, a large housing association in London, made 700 visits and recovered 19 properties in 2009. It told me at the conference that, with some changes to its practices, it made 1,544 visits and recovered 63 properties in 2010. Those are still quite small numbers, but they show that if Government funding is used selectively, it can lead to more detection.
I hope that with this Bill, which contains greater powers and financial incentives for such organisations, the numbers will begin to increase. They need greater powers to do what they are currently trying to do with limited powers. Until now, the efforts have focused on detecting the problem. The resources made available by this Government and the last Government have helped tremendously in financial terms, but it is like saying that we will deal with shop lifting and training special officers to do so, without having a law that provides a proper sanction for people who steal from shops. We do have such a law, by the way. I believe that providing local authorities with extra powers will help dramatically to reduce this crime.
As I have said, the most common consequence at the moment is the shrugging of shoulders. The tenant returns to the property and then disappears, fully able to commit the crime again. I have every reason to believe that there is consensus on this issue. I hope that that is confirmed by the Second Reading of this Bill. We need to help social landlords tackle the abuse of their stock, and I believe the Bill will dramatically help them to do so.
If I may crave your indulgence a little longer, Mr Deputy Speaker—I am looking you firmly in the face now, Sir, as is my duty and honour—I wish to point out that clause 1 will make it a criminal offence improperly to sub-let a social housing property. That will cover people who sub-let either part or the whole of their property, and those who no longer occupy a property but take part in what is known, in what we might call in the trade, as key-selling. That is when people get hold of a property and then sell their key—either physically or theoretically—to a new tenant. I am told that the cost of that is typically £2,000 to £4,000. They then pocket that money and disappear back to wherever they actually live, and the new family occupy the place.
Julie Hilling (Bolton West) (Lab)
I have a slight concern about the provision on those sub-letting part of a property. Local authorities are advising some people facing the potential bedroom tax that they could take in a lodger, in other words sub-let part of their property to avoid paying the additional costs, particularly if they cannot be rehoused. Could such people be caught by clause 1?
Richard Harrington
The hon. Lady asks a valid question. If I may crave her indulgence, I hope to convince her that that has been taken into consideration in the drafting of the Bill. We want to catch people who pretend that they are still occupying a property by using what is known as the airing cupboard option—they pretend that a little room is theirs and that they occupy it all the time. We want to catch those people, but not those who just let out a room.
In fact, the Bill states that people can sub-let with the landlord’s consent, and circumstances such as the hon. Lady mentions are quite genuine. Such sub-letting is good from a social point of view, because it adds to the number of people living in social housing without depriving other people of it. I hope that the drafting of the Bill takes care of that. If the Bill continues its passage, I hope she will be interested in taking part in the Public Bill Committee, where we can get down to the details of it, because she makes a good point.
Sir Roger Gale
I know that you abhor over-lengthy interventions, Mr Deputy Speaker, so I hope to avoid making a speech.
The hon. Member for Bolton West (Julie Hilling) raised a point that is very important in east Kent. We suffer from what I might describe as horizontal mobility. People move from household to household and change partners on a depressingly regular basis. They take in lodgers and then move to stay with a fresh partner, leaving the lodger behind with the tenancy and then possibly moving back in later. There seems to be a grey area in the Bill, and perhaps my hon. Friend the Member for Watford (Richard Harrington) and the Minister might wish to consider that in Committee. My personal preference would be to say that that should not be done at all, but will my hon. Friend take that point on board?
Richard Harrington
I thank my hon. Friend, and that certainly will be taken on board. The key to the drafting of the Bill is that it has to be clear about what is allowed and what is not. We have to avoid a lack of clarity, which would allow loopholes—I think the mixed cliché in the trade is “creating a chink of light to drive a coach and horses through it”. I hope Hansard records that, because I do not think I can say it again, but I think it is relevant in this case.
I certainly assure the House that in creating the new criminal offence, it is not my intention to fill prisons with thousands of people who sub-let their properties. It is designed as a tool with which local authorities can take action against tenants who have defrauded them, and to create an effective deterrent to prevent others from doing the same.
The criminalisation of this fraud is long overdue, and many housing associations have called for it for some time. In its response to the social housing fraud consultation, the Chartered Institute of Housing stated:
“The majority of housing providers CIH has spoken with agree that tenancy fraud should be a criminal offence”.
Some 90% of respondents to the Government’s consultation supported the new criminal offence, and in Watford both the community housing trust and borough council have welcomed it.
Any criminal conviction needs to be met with an appropriate and effective punishment. There has been a lot of consultation on this with the Ministry of Justice, the Home Office and the Cabinet Office. The Bill makes provision for sentences varying between a fine and a maximum two years’ custody. That strikes the right balance for the crime and will deter others from committing it. I cannot reiterate enough that, currently, anyone planning on sub-letting has nothing greater to fear than having to return the property, after which they can try somewhere else.
The Bill extends the power of prosecution for local authorities. They can currently prosecute when it is deemed to be in the interests of people in their area, but the Bill introduces more flexible powers and enables local authorities to prosecute the crimes laid out in the Bill on behalf of other local authorities. Different housing associations operate in different local authorities and across local authority borders, and the measure deals with that anomaly. In this world of joint partnerships, and of landlords coming together regionally and sub-regionally, we must give those who want to enforce the law those powers.
I keep mentioning landlords, by which I mean not private landlords with thousands of problems, but social landlords. The Bill gives social landlords the chance to get the money back and to use it to fund more anti-fraud work. That will provide an incentive and resource for local authorities to investigate more, which in addition provides a further deterrent. The National Housing Federation and the Local Government Association, which are important bodies in this field, support that measure.
Lastly, by removing assured status from the housing associations that sub-let the whole property, the Bill makes it easier for landlords to gain possession when a tenant who has previously sub-let moves back in. Currently, if the landlord wants to end such a tenancy, they must prove to the court that it is reasonable to grant possession for breach of a tenancy agreement. The Bill will enable the landlord to end the tenancy by giving notice, which brings housing association tenants into line with local authority tenants. That anomaly has been used as a loophole, but under the Bill, landlords will have the same powers as local authorities.
It is a pleasure to present the Bill with support from so many colleagues from both sides of the House. It is fair to say that the sponsors of the Bill transcend the full political spectrum. I hope that that alone satisfies both the Housing and Local Government Minister and his shadow.
The results of the Government consultation have been put into the House of Commons Library today. The timing is a bit unfortunate, because I have not had time to read the Government response in full, but I understand there is an overwhelming consensus on the measures. I take comfort in the fact that most of those who have contacted me—80% to 90%— support the Bill.
During my research, I have spoken to so many different people, and I thank Joe Joseph of Peabody; Kevin Campbell-Scott, the fraud director at Southwark council; David Clayton and Stephanie Toghill of the Chartered Institute of Housing; and Paul Keogan of Westminster council. I could go on. All those people deal with these issues on behalf of social housing providers. I am not playing politics and the measure has not been dreamt up—there is a real grass-roots need for the Bill. Lest anyone believe that the Bill is London-centric, I have also spoken to Stoke-on-Trent city council and people from all over the place. They are all in favour of the Bill.
I should mention possible opposition to the Bill—one problem was mentioned by my hon. Friend the Member for Bury North, who asked whether existing legislation is enough. As my hon. Friend the Member for Enfield North (Nick de Bois) said, there have been successful prosecutions, but they are few and far between, and not all organisations have the resources or expertise to conduct the kind of case that was conducted in his constituency. This my final quote—I will not read any more out. The Chartered Institute of Housing said:
“Some are already attempting to”
prosecute
“using the Fraud Act 2006 and they are keen to make use of any new legislation granted to enable them to tackle social housing fraud more effectively.”
I want to give local authorities the rights and powers to bring charges against those who defraud them, and the Bill would only enhance the work already being done and the local laws already in place.
I would have liked to include other subjects in the Bill, but I could not, at this stage, because extra consultation would have been required. I hope that the issue of information sharing, which, as was pointed out to me, is vital, can be rectified in Committee. There has also been discussion about introducing a framework on the intention to return—if people leave with the genuine intention to return for a genuine reason—but on consideration I decided that it was far too complex to introduce at this stage. I feel that these Bills need to be as simple as possible.
The lack of social housing is of great concern to all housing associations, to me and to the Government, and although I do not flatter myself by suggesting that the Bill would solve these problems in one go, it would provide local authorities with the opportunity to make use of the stock they have and not to incur unnecessary costs from providing homes to people who could otherwise live in this stock. It is estimated that on average it costs £18,000 a year to house a family in temporary accommodation and about £150,000 to build a new property for social housing stock. It is not acceptable that local authorities and housing associations have to meet these costs when they already have properties that could be used for these purposes, but which instead are being used by people to make money illegally—off the back not only of the taxpayer but of decent people living in temporary accommodation who need these properties.
I hope that the Bill will become an effective and lasting piece of legislation that will make a real difference by preventing such social housing fraud; will have the necessary measures to punish those who cheat and profit from the system; will create punishments that deter offenders; will help local authorities and prosecutions; and will allow social landlords—in a way, all of us—to recoup profits made by tenants in their properties and to use that money to provide more genuine social housing. The Bill aims to bring about a fairer system and rectify the anomaly whereby the incentive to cheat is so much greater than the risk of detection and the penalty incurred. It would also free up thousands of properties that could instead be given to hard-working individuals and families who play by the rules and deserve this social housing.
Chris Williamson (Derby North) (Lab)
I congratulate the hon. Member for Watford (Richard Harrington) on introducing this Bill, which is very timely given the current housing crisis facing the nation. Sub-letting for financial gain prevents people from obtaining a home, and we support the Bill. Its proposals build on the work done by the previous Labour Government, as the hon. Gentleman said, and I pay tribute to my right hon. Friend the Member for Wentworth and Dearne (John Healey), who launched the first ever national crackdown on the fraudulent sub-letting of social housing. Almost 150 councils signed up to that concerted effort, including every London council and every top-tier Labour council that was responsible for its own housing stock. Under that initiative, councils got a share of a Government grant of £4 million, which was established to assist local authorities in developing their own anti-fraud initiatives. Councils and housing associations were also given practical advice on how best to tackle this problem. The initiative made a considerable impact.
Before the last general election, Labour committed to making the unlawful sub-letting of social homes a criminal offence. There have, however, been a number of successful prosecutions in cases where tenancies have been unlawfully sub-let. The Fraud Act 2006 has been used by both Camden and Westminster councils, and the hon. Member for Enfield North (Nick de Bois) said his council had taken action using current legislation as well, but I think explicitly making unlawful sub-letting a criminal offence will assist local authorities to deal with the problem. This Bill will make that a reality. It will assist local authorities to extend the work they are already doing. It will provide them with an additional tool to address the problem, and thereby to make the best use of their existing housing stock.
Notwithstanding the horrendous examples of abuse that Members have outlined in this debate, it is important to put on the record a point that the hon. Member for Watford made in his contribution: the overwhelming majority of council and social housing tenants pay their taxes and play by the rules. It would be very wrong if we were in any way to stigmatise people living in council homes by giving the impression that large numbers of them are abusing the system. There is no evidence that that is the case.
Richard Harrington
May I confirm that I fully support the hon. Gentleman’s point? The fraudulent ones are, in effect, an insult to the vast majority of genuine tenants who pay their rents, pay their taxes and are in social housing by right.
Chris Williamson
I thank the hon. Gentleman for those comments, and I think we both agree that it is important that we stress the fact that we are talking here about only a small minority of tenants. We must tackle their behaviour, in the interests of fairness and what is right.
The Bill has received cross-party support, and support from housing professional organisations and pressure groups, including the Chartered Institute of Housing, the National Housing Federation and the Local Government Association. The LGA posed a number of questions in a briefing note, to which I am sure all hon. Members will have had access, that could be addressed in Committee. For example, the briefing suggests that restitutionary payments should be made to social landlords where it has been found that a tenancy has been unlawfully sub-let. The LGA also perceives as narrow the definition of who would fall within the terms of the Bill and it seeks a wider one. Perhaps that could be taken into account as the Bill is scrutinised further in Committee.
I do not wish to strike a discordant note, because, as I have said, there is cross-party support for and cross-party sponsorship of the Bill. However, it is important to state that the Bill will not make up for the failure of the Government’s housing record. As the hon. Member for Romsey and Southampton North (Caroline Nokes) rightly said, there is clearly a desperate need for social housing in this country. We need to step up to the plate, but the Government are not doing so at the moment. They will need to do that to address the housing crisis gripping the nation.
There is broad agreement on the fact that we are gripped by the worst housing crisis in a generation. Waiting lists are increasing all the time; I believe the hon. Member for Watford said that there are 4,000 people on the list in his local authority area. We therefore need to do more than is contained in the Bill, although it will make a helpful contribution to tackling the inadequate supply of affordable housing. A renaissance in house building would also have huge benefits for the wider economy in jobs and growth, which are vital to get the economy moving again. We need to get people back into work, and if the Government would only take the measures necessary to increase the supply of new housing, that would provide a benefit by addressing some social needs and helping economically; it would help to generate growth and jobs, which are desperately needed at the moment.
What was extremely unhelpful in dealing with the housing crisis was the fact that the Government decided to make a £4 billion reduction in the funding available for affordable housing, which led to a disastrous collapse of 97% in new social housing starts and a 68% collapse in affordable house building over the past year. Labour Members have warned the Government time and again that their policies would make the housing crisis worse. This Bill will go some way to dealing with the problem, but we need to go much further. Young people, families and elderly people have all been affected by the Government’s disastrous housing policies—that is the only way they can be described. Regrettably, the Minister for Housing and Local Government has refused to listen and has insisted that things are getting better when the evidence demonstrates that they are clearly getting worse—