Asked by: Ranil Jayawardena (Conservative - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he has plans to increase access to shared ownership properties in the South East.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The Government’s 2021-26 Affordable Homes Programme seeks to deliver thousands of new affordable homes for rent and to buy right across the country. This includes the delivery of new shared ownership homes in the South East. Since 2014-15, over 27,200 new shared ownership homes have been delivered in the South East.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to improve the (a) affordability and (b) availability of housing for first-time buyers.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
We have introduced a number of interventions that aim to increase the supply of low-deposit mortgages for credit-worthy households, increase the availability of new housing, and stimulate economic growth. These include First Homes, the Mortgage Guarantee Scheme, Shared Ownership and Right to Buy. We have also reduced stamp duty and raised the thresholds for First-Time Buyers’ Relief. We also run the Lifetime ISA scheme to help young first time buyers save for their first home.
We have helped over 873,000 households to purchase a home through home ownership schemes including Help to Buy, Right to Buy and Shared Ownership since 2010, and first-time buyer numbers have been steadily improving over the last decade, with 2021 seeing the highest number for 20 years. Nonetheless, we recognise that the current economic climate remains challenging for first-time buyers. I and my Cabinet colleagues have ongoing discussions on these issues, and we keep all options under consideration.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent discussions he has had with the Cabinet Office on the number of veterans made homeless in the last 12 months.
Answered by Felicity Buchan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
My department has regular discussions with the Cabinet Office on veteran homelessness. The Government is providing £33 million over the next 3 years to increase the service provided to veterans, which includes £20 million for the Veteran Housing Capital Fund that will be used to modernise, rebuild and expand our veteran housing network. This is in addition to £8.55 million funding announced in December 2022 for more than 900 veteran supported housing units with specialist help for former armed forces personnel.
To improve access to affordable housing, we changed the law so that veterans with urgent housing needs are always given ‘additional preference’ (high priority) for social housing and that those who left the forces within the preceding 5 years cannot be disqualified from social housing because of a local connection or residency requirement.
We also published dedicated statutory social housing allocations guidance which sets out how local authorities can support veterans and their families to access social housing.
Veterans have priority for government-funded shared ownership schemes for up to 24 months after leaving the service and are also exempt from any local connection testing restrictions required to be eligible for First Homes, a scheme that gives local first-time buyers a discount of at least 30% on a new home.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he is taking to improve the availability of high-quality affordable housing for veterans.
Answered by Felicity Buchan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
My department has regular discussions with the Cabinet Office on veteran homelessness. The Government is providing £33 million over the next 3 years to increase the service provided to veterans, which includes £20 million for the Veteran Housing Capital Fund that will be used to modernise, rebuild and expand our veteran housing network. This is in addition to £8.55 million funding announced in December 2022 for more than 900 veteran supported housing units with specialist help for former armed forces personnel.
To improve access to affordable housing, we changed the law so that veterans with urgent housing needs are always given ‘additional preference’ (high priority) for social housing and that those who left the forces within the preceding 5 years cannot be disqualified from social housing because of a local connection or residency requirement.
We also published dedicated statutory social housing allocations guidance which sets out how local authorities can support veterans and their families to access social housing.
Veterans have priority for government-funded shared ownership schemes for up to 24 months after leaving the service and are also exempt from any local connection testing restrictions required to be eligible for First Homes, a scheme that gives local first-time buyers a discount of at least 30% on a new home.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what information his Department holds on the number of shared ownership properties there are in (a) London and (b) England.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The Regulator of Social Housing collects and publishes information on low-cost home ownership housing owned by registered providers, including shared ownership. This information is available at the following link.
These data does not include information on units owned by non-registered providers. Shared ownership comprises the majority of the wider category of low-cost home ownership but cannot be separately identified from the available data.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, for what reason County Durham was not selected as a Priority Place for Levelling Up Fund Round 3.
Answered by Jacob Young - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
For Round 3, funding was targeted to places assessed in need through the Levelling Up Needs metrics, which take into account skills, pay, productivity and health. These metrics draw on the extensive evidence base of what matters for levelling up, as set out in the Levelling Up White Paper, and represent our most up to date assessment of levelling up need. Further details of the selection methodology for Round 3 are set out in the published LUF R3 Explanatory and Methodology Note on Gov.uk.
County Durham has been awarded funding from multiple levelling up funds, including £146,000 from the Community Ownership Fund; £20 million from the Long-Term Plan for Towns; £836,000 from the Community Renewal Fund; £19 million from the Future High Streets Fund; £33 million from the Town Deal; £85,000 from the Levelling Up Parks Fund; and £30.8 million from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. They were also awarded £20 million from round 1 of the Levelling Up Fund for the Bishop Auckland project, and £1.9 million in round 2 as part of the Transport Decarbonisation in the North East project.
Asked by: Alistair Strathern (Labour - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will publish the number of (a) social, (b) affordable rent and (c) shared ownership affordable homes as a percentage of homes completed in mid Bedfordshire constituency in each of the last five years.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The numbers of new affordable homes, including social rent, affordable rent and shared ownership, are collected by local authority.
Data by local authority can be found in Live Tables 1006 to 1008 available here.
Asked by: Andrew Percy (Conservative - Brigg and Goole)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department is taking to help home buyers purchase properties in areas of above average house price growth.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
This Government is committed to making homeownership a reality for as many households as possible.
We operate a range of schemes to support first-time buyers in purchasing properties, including First Homes, Shared Ownership, Right to Buy and the Mortgage Guarantee Scheme. Over 860,000 households have been helped to purchase a home since spring 2010 through Government-backed schemes. The Government also helps first-time buyers to save for a deposit through the Lifetime ISA.
We have also increased the level at which first-time buyers start paying Stamp Duty from £300,000 to £425,000. First-time buyers will be able to access the relief on property purchases up to £625,000, compared to £500,000 previously. This will apply until end March 2025.
Asked by: Andrew Percy (Conservative - Brigg and Goole)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department is taking to help first-time home buyers with their deposits.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
This Government is committed to making homeownership a reality for as many households as possible.
We operate a range of schemes to support first-time buyers in purchasing properties, including First Homes, Shared Ownership, Right to Buy and the Mortgage Guarantee Scheme. Over 860,000 households have been helped to purchase a home since spring 2010 through Government-backed schemes. The Government also helps first-time buyers to save for a deposit through the Lifetime ISA.
We have also increased the level at which first-time buyers start paying Stamp Duty from £300,000 to £425,000. First-time buyers will be able to access the relief on property purchases up to £625,000, compared to £500,000 previously. This will apply until end March 2025.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will bring forward proposals to make the voluntary rent cap scheme in shared ownership arrangements mandatory.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
Most registered providers of social housing chose to limit voluntarily annual rent increases for their shared owners in 2023-24 to no more than 7%. Though the department was clear in its discussions with the sector that we expected them to take reasonable and responsible decisions at a time when many shared owners were facing pressures on their finances, we recognise that the decision to engage in this voluntary arrangement was one for individual providers to take independently. Rent increases for shared owners will continue to be based on the terms of their lease agreements with their providers.