Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect of extending permitted development rights to include demolitions on his Department's plans to halve homelessness in this parliament.

Permitted development rights for change of use to residential are making an important contribution to the delivery of new homes and have delivered over 46,000 homes to buy or rent in the three years to March 2018. We do not collect information on how many are sold or rented, or on who subsequently lives in them.

As announced in the written ministerial statement made on 13 March 2019, HCWS1408, we will continue to consider the design of a permitted development right to allow commercial buildings to be demolished and replaced with homes. We also intend to review permitted development rights for conversion of buildings to residential use in respect of the quality standard of homes delivered.