Missed opportunity

Any policy that reduces fuel poverty and deaths in cold weather at the same time as it cuts carbon emissions from the least energy efficient homes seems an obvious winner.

But the Communities and Local Government (CLG) committee says in a report today that ‘we consider it a huge missed opportunity that the considerable political will demonstrated by the government in raising social sector housing to the decent homes standard has not been matched by similar energies with respect to the private sector; and that the policy in the private sector appears to have failed’.

According to the last English house condition survey in 2007, more than a third of homes in the private sector were non-decent. Meanwhile, half of vulnerable households in the private rented sector and two-thirds of vulnerable home owners lived in non-decent homes. Older people - those most vulnerable to this winter’s cold weather - are most likely to be affected and least likely to be able to afford improvements. 

The government had originally set a target of 70% of vulnerable households in the private sector living in decent homes by 2010 but since the 2007 spending review there has been no specific goal. The MPs conclude that ‘the downgrading of the target for decency in the private sector has weakened local authorities’ already patchy engagement with their responsibilities towards private sector housing’. 

The committee acknowledges several positive signs, including the government’s response to the Rugg review and the household energy management strategy that will pay for energy efficiency work through a combination of a levy on the energy companies and pay as you save financing for homeowners.

Obstacles including funding, enforcement and lack of clear information on conditions will make progress an uphill struggle but the MPs call on the government to commit itself to a programme of measures to ‘raise these problems up the political agenda’.

An early opportunity to do that will come in tomorrow’s Budget, when the chancellor has the chance to act on what is surely one of the most longstanding demands in housing: cutting VAT on improvement works. 

The MPs conclude there’s a good case for that but not in the current economic circumstances but say the government should make equalising the VAT rate between new build and improvements a medium-term policy goal.

That will disappoint campaigners who have been banging their heads against a brick wall on the issue for so long. But at least they would only pay 5% VAT to rebuild it.