Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
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 support local authorities with housing vulnerable elderly citizens in (a) Romford and (b) England.
Answered by Felicity Buchan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
I refer my Hon Friend to my answer to Question UIN 201711 on 23 October 2023. This is part of the £2 billion of funding committed to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping over three years.
The right housing can play a vital role in delivering improved wellbeing and health, and greater independence, for many older people. It is for local authorities such as London Borough of Havering in Romford to plan for the right housing options, working with local partners, based on the needs of older people locally.
The £11.5 billion Affordable Homes programme (2021-26) (England) includes delivery within the programme of new supply of supported and sheltered housing. This is alongside other investment in specialist housing for older and disabled people with personal care needs, through the Department for Health and Social Care.
The Government has established an independent Older People’s Housing Taskforce to look at how a greater choice of housing might be provided for older people. The year-long Taskforce launched in May 2023 and the Government is looking forward to receiving its final recommendations in 2024.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
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 support local authorities with housing vulnerable homeless families in (a) Romford and (b) England.
Answered by Felicity Buchan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
I refer my Hon Friend to my answer to Question UIN 201711 on 23 October 2023. This is part of the £2 billion of funding committed to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping over three years.
The right housing can play a vital role in delivering improved wellbeing and health, and greater independence, for many older people. It is for local authorities such as London Borough of Havering in Romford to plan for the right housing options, working with local partners, based on the needs of older people locally.
The £11.5 billion Affordable Homes programme (2021-26) (England) includes delivery within the programme of new supply of supported and sheltered housing. This is alongside other investment in specialist housing for older and disabled people with personal care needs, through the Department for Health and Social Care.
The Government has established an independent Older People’s Housing Taskforce to look at how a greater choice of housing might be provided for older people. The year-long Taskforce launched in May 2023 and the Government is looking forward to receiving its final recommendations in 2024.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he has made an assessment of the adequacy of the capacity of delivery agencies for delivering the aims of the Affordable Homes Programme.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
We regularly review resourcing requirements with our delivery partners - Homes England and the Greater London Authority - on the Affordable Homes Programme.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
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 ensure an adequate supply of affordable housing for key workers in areas of relatively high housing costs including the city of York.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The National Planning Policy Framework makes clear that local authorities should assess the housing need of different groups in their communities, and support delivery of affordable housing to help meet those needs. Government is on target to build around 250,000 affordable homes through the Affordable Homes Programme 2016-23, with around 244,000 new housing starts by March 2023, and a further 5,000 homes granted an extension to start before March 2024. The Affordable Homes Programme will deliver a large number of social rented homes.
Our First Homes scheme will provide homes for first-time buyers at a minimum 30% discount. First Homes must be prioritised for first-time buyers (defined in paragraph 6, schedule 6ZA of the Finance Act 2003) and not sold to any household with a combined annual income over £80,000 (£90,000 in Greater London). Local and Neighbourhood Plans will be able to apply additional criteria.
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave to Question UIN 192375 on 12 July 2023.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent assessment he has made of the relationship between the availability of affordable housing and shortages of key workers.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The National Planning Policy Framework makes clear that local authorities should assess the housing need of different groups in their communities, and support delivery of affordable housing to help meet those needs. Government is on target to build around 250,000 affordable homes through the Affordable Homes Programme 2016-23, with around 244,000 new housing starts by March 2023, and a further 5,000 homes granted an extension to start before March 2024. The Affordable Homes Programme will deliver a large number of social rented homes.
Our First Homes scheme will provide homes for first-time buyers at a minimum 30% discount. First Homes must be prioritised for first-time buyers (defined in paragraph 6, schedule 6ZA of the Finance Act 2003) and not sold to any household with a combined annual income over £80,000 (£90,000 in Greater London). Local and Neighbourhood Plans will be able to apply additional criteria.
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave to Question UIN 192375 on 12 July 2023.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if his Department will take steps to help support the development of hospital staff key worker accommodation on NHS Property Services land.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The National Planning Policy Framework makes clear that local authorities should assess the housing need of different groups in their communities, and support delivery of affordable housing to help meet those needs. Government is on target to build around 250,000 affordable homes through the Affordable Homes Programme 2016-23, with around 244,000 new housing starts by March 2023, and a further 5,000 homes granted an extension to start before March 2024. The Affordable Homes Programme will deliver a large number of social rented homes.
Our First Homes scheme will provide homes for first-time buyers at a minimum 30% discount. First Homes must be prioritised for first-time buyers (defined in paragraph 6, schedule 6ZA of the Finance Act 2003) and not sold to any household with a combined annual income over £80,000 (£90,000 in Greater London). Local and Neighbourhood Plans will be able to apply additional criteria.
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave to Question UIN 192375 on 12 July 2023.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
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 prioritise the construction of key worker accommodation in the planning system.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The National Planning Policy Framework makes clear that local authorities should assess the housing need of different groups in their communities, and support delivery of affordable housing to help meet those needs. Government is on target to build around 250,000 affordable homes through the Affordable Homes Programme 2016-23, with around 244,000 new housing starts by March 2023, and a further 5,000 homes granted an extension to start before March 2024. The Affordable Homes Programme will deliver a large number of social rented homes.
Our First Homes scheme will provide homes for first-time buyers at a minimum 30% discount. First Homes must be prioritised for first-time buyers (defined in paragraph 6, schedule 6ZA of the Finance Act 2003) and not sold to any household with a combined annual income over £80,000 (£90,000 in Greater London). Local and Neighbourhood Plans will be able to apply additional criteria.
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave to Question UIN 192375 on 12 July 2023.
Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent steps he has taken to help ensure the adequacy of the supply of social housing in (a) Enfield North constituency, (b) the London Borough of Enfield and (c) London.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The Greater London Authority has responsibility for delivering Affordable Housing in London, with a delegation of £4 billion to invest in new housing from the £11.5 billion Affordable Homes Programme.
Our £11.5 billion Affordable Homes Programme will deliver thousands of affordable homes to rent and to buy right across the country, including thousands of new homes for social rent.
Between 2010 and 2022, they delivered 131,787 affordable homes in London, including 38,657 homes for social rent, 35,372 homes for affordable rent and 8,124 homes for London affordable rent.
Between 2010 and 2022, they delivered 3,916 affordable homes in the London Borough of Enfield, including 1,082 homes for social rent, 883 homes for affordable rent and 376 homes for London affordable rent.
We do not collect data at a constituency level.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
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 are taking to increase the availability of housing for low-income families in Greater London.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
Delivering more affordable homes in London is a priority for the Government, which is why we have invested £4 billion of Affordable Homes Programme funding in the capital to help deliver them.
A significant proportion of these homes will be made available for Social Rent, directly helping low-income households who are unable to rent or buy at market rates.
The latest published statistics for housing delivery in London can be found here.
Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government what support they are providing for the creation of more community land trusts to build more social housing.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Government recognises that the community-led housing sector, of which housing co-operatives and community land trusts are an important part, offers significant untapped potential for helping to meet housing need across England. In addition to helping increase the rate of delivery of new housing, it can help deliver a range of benefits including diversifying the housebuilding sector, improving design and construction quality, developing modern methods of construction, and helping sustain local communities and local economies. The support and close involvement of the local community can enable the community-led approach to secure planning permission and deliver housing that could not necessarily be brought forward through mainstream development.
Since the most recent round of the Community Housing Fund (CHF) closed in March 2022, the Government has been considering what support it may provide to the community-led housing sector and a decision will be made in due course. In London, the Greater London Authority continues to deliver a programme to support for community-led housing using a grant of £38 million awarded to it from the CHF by this department in 2018/19.
For certain tenures of affordable housing, community-based groups - or their partner organisations - registered as providers of social housing may apply for capital grant through the Affordable Homes Programme (AHP).