Housing a major point of Localism Bill Lords debate
Housing was a key issue during the second day of the first Localism Bill debate in the House of Lords yesterday.
Lord Adebowale questioned limiting tenancies to as little as two years for new tenants. ‘I am concerned about the intention to remove lifetime tenancies while reforming the homelessness duty accorded to local authorities,’ he said. ‘These reforms are intended to free up the availability of social housing, but they will have the opposite effect. These proposals may have unintended consequences that will oppose what this legislation is setting out to achieve.’
Lord Patel said short-term tenancies would reduce tenants’ commitments to their neighbourhoods and homes: ‘It undermines their willingness to invest time and energy in the fabric of the housing, the garden and the local environment,’ he said. ‘There is also the very unpleasant suggestion behind these housing clauses that social housing is to be viewed as some kind of failure to move on and make the most of life.’
Lord Best, chair of Hanover Housing Association, spoke up for housing services being hit by cuts to Supporting People grant. ‘Wearing my social housing hat, I can feel outrage when the Supporting People grants for local councils to help homeless and vulnerable people are siphoned off by some authorities for quite different purposes,’ he said.
Many of the Lords praised the reform of the Housing Revenue Account system, which will see councils keep money raised from rents on their houses. In the past, rents were paid to government in exchange for a maintenance allowance.
Baroness Andrews criticised Eric Pickles’ decision to scrap regional planning targets. ‘Whatever the complaints about the regional spatial strategies, they had some merits: they were evidence based, independent and offered a coherent way of looking at where housing was needed and could be provided according to land resource,’ she said. ‘The regional spatial strategy also provided a mediating process for local authorities; now local authorities are on their own and face unforgiving housing pressures.’
The Bill will move to the committee stage in the House of Lords later this month.
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