Harlow MP Chris Vince asks question in House of Commons on social housing
Chris Vince / Tue 3rd Sep 2024 at 11:07am
HARLOW MP Chris Vince rose on the floor of the House of Commons to ask a number of questions on social housing.
Chris Vince said: To ask the minister, what steps the Department is taking to increase the supply of social housing?
Matthew Pennycook Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
As my hon. Friend will be aware, the Government are committed to delivering the biggest increase in social and affordable house building in a generation.
In the 59 days that we have been in office we have already proposed changes to the national planning policy framework to support that objective and confirmed a range of new flexibilities to help councils and housing associations make a greater contribution to affordable housing supply.
Chris Vince: In their dying days, the previous Government consulted on changes to the way that social housing is allocated. Those proposals were described by the chief executive of Shelter as “unnecessary, unenforceable and unjust”. The chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Housing warned that they would force many people into homelessness. Can my hon. Friend confirm that this Government will not be taking forward those damaging proposals?
Matthew Pennycook Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government): “My hon. Friend is correct. The Government have today published a formal response to that consultation, setting out precisely why we will not be taking those proposals forward.
It is important that we allocate social housing fairly and efficiently. The proposals put forward by the previous Government were deeply flawed.
As respondents to the consultation made clear, they would not only fail to improve how social housing is allocated, but cost taxpayers a fortune, swell the number of people in expensive temporary accommodation and increase the risk of harm to the public.
“The only way to meet the demand for genuinely affordable social rented homes is to build more of them, which is precisely what we intend to do.”
Click below for the full debate
https://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=2024-09-02a.12.3&s=speaker%3A26350#g12.4
Gary Roberts
2024-09-03 11:36:03
So stop the right to buy council homes. If these new council homes are built I predict they will not remain council homes for long unless they do abolish the right to buy. I was lucky 41 years ago but many young people will not be. In Harlow not even those 172 homes in the Burnt Mills development will go to the young people on the council's housing needs register which is disgusting. MP Vince should be challenging the government to stop the right to buy: will he? I have my doubts.
Dan
2024-09-03 13:18:03
I agree – Descent Homes for Descent People – For too long council homes have been given as reward for profligacy and self-indulgence. If you go out and get pregnant you can get a place on the list. If you sit smoking in your room with your young kid and the kid gets asthma, you move up the list. Council Homes should be given to those descent kids who go out and get an education and a job. They are the ones who if they get to 23 or 24 without kids and with a job, then they should go to the top of the list and get a subsidised Council Home as a stepping stone towards them buying a house of their own. I’m sure the list would be that long if those were the criteria and I’m equally sure it would discourage families where generation after generation have grown accustomed to living on handouts and not giving back. A hand up, not handouts.
Jimmy
2024-09-03 14:08:16
The problem with YOURHARLOW is that you aren’t allowed an opinion!
Guy Flegman
2024-09-03 14:45:05
As I have said before. Who is going to build these houses? The building sector represents nearly 20% of all bankruptcies, they cite lack of demand, increased costs and a shortage of workers as reasons for their company failures. This means you can change planning all you like but you will not get the housing. It also means new housing needs to be more expensive to attract the companies to build them. Time to start living in the real world
Alan
2024-09-03 17:51:08
I'm fed up of hearing about "affordable" housing. We need social housing with social rents not 2 bed flats at £2250/month under current "affordable" calculations. With Labours plan to increase rents annually by 2%+CPI just makes so called affordable homes even less affordable. And why should current tenants foot the bill for new housing when most are barely making ends meet as it is.
Metoo
2024-09-03 18:22:09
My son, born and raised in Harlow, no kids, a zero hour contract at work, has just been told he us not eligible to go on the housing list. Works but does not earn enough to private rent. So what options does he have? Am sick and tired of empty promises, Harlow homes for Harlow people, what a joke, you don't even get accepted onto the list.
Dan Long
2024-09-03 19:14:18
Harlow homes for Harlow residents. End off.
Nostradamus
2024-09-04 07:56:17
Post ww2 employment was provided by building 32 New Towns, including Harlow. Homes were Council homes the UK government built new towns after World War II through public corporations, not private builders: New Town development corporations: These government-financed corporations were given the power to plan and purchase land compulsorily. New Towns Act 1946: This act and subsequent legislation led to the development of 32 new towns across the UK. Development corporations: These corporations supervised the development of the new towns. Towns provided employment by provide sites for industry and businesses. Rents were truly affordable. It was a phenomenally successful initiative. Much the same needs to be done today as Ultra green New towns built by the government where new green industries can develop and where generation rent can get out of the clutches of developers and speculators to live decent homes. Such a strategy would also be far better for the environment rather than the government allowing the private sector to fill the pockets of speculators building on random chunks of grey greenbelt land. As for the Right to Buy, perhaps much smaller discounts so the money generated could be ring fenced to build more Council homes. Stopping it altogether both traps people where they are and breaks up established stable communities.
gary roberts
2024-09-04 09:31:34
Nostradamus, can you explain your comment, "Stopping [ Right to Buy] altogether both traps people where they are and breaks up established stable communities." Surely it does the opposite?
KCH
2024-09-04 10:29:46
Generally agree with Nostradamus , but the reality of Supply and Demand rules the day. Too many people chasing too few homes .It will take decades (if ever) to build the number of houses required. Remember , Harlow was basically full over 40 years ago (before Church Langley , which was never for "affordable" renting.)
gary roberts
2024-09-04 13:49:16
And I hear Ms Rayner has listened and the abolition of the right to buy policy will be part of a consultation later this year. Rejoice at that news and get involved in order for young adults to get a council home.
Hey Big Spender
2024-09-04 15:13:46
I do hope Mr Vince will encourage Miss Rayner to sell her ex-Council house back to the particular Council she bought it from. After all, she now has two homes. I cannot get my head around a socialist buying a Council property, that is surely a hypocritical mindset. But continue lecturing the rest of the population won’t you, Miss Rayner. Right-to-Buy should never have been an option in the first place. Every government is full of hypocrites.
Pedro
2024-09-04 19:01:09
How many Council houses did Labour controlled Harlow Council build between 2012 and 2021 ?
Sue
2024-09-05 17:49:09
I put a comment on here about Labour and its been removed
Tetley Taylor
2024-09-06 20:16:41
If it was a nasty comment Sue it will be removed
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