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Labour’s new shadow housing minister has written to Christopher Pincher demanding answers over the government’s action to help leaseholders affected by the cladding crisis during the coronavirus pandemic.
Weaver Vale MP Mike Amesbury has now taken over the shadow housing minister role from Croydon Central representative Sarah Jones, who has moved onto the policing and fire service brief.
In a letter introducing himself to housing minister Mr Pincher, Mr Amesbury said the “tens of thousands of leaseholders” facing “ruinous bills” for waking watches put in place at buildings with unsafe cladding are seeing their situation “exacerbated by the economic consequences of the COVID-19 crisis”.
He added: “Many are young, highly mortgaged, often shared owners, who are now unemployed or facing very uncertain employment prospects because of the impact of the COVID-19 crisis.
“In the months ahead, they face loss of their homes on a major scale.”
He cited examples reported by Inside Housing of a block in Birmingham which could be evacuated after leaseholders were unable to meet cladding bills up to £19,000 each and housing association A2Dominion warning its shared owners that they could be made to pay full costs of remediation.
As Labour’s new Shadow Housing and Planning Minister, I’ve written to @ChrisPincher about the impact of COVID-19 on leaseholders. I’m particularly concerned about the situation of those still living with dangerous cladding and facing increasingly difficult costs. pic.twitter.com/6upI2zC8Ea
— Mike Amesbury MP (@MikeAmesburyMP)As Labour's new Shadow Housing and Planning Minister, I've written to @ChrisPincher about the impact of COVID-19 on leaseholders. I'm particularly concerned about the situation of those still living with dangerous cladding and facing increasingly difficult costs. pic.twitter.com/6upI2zC8Ea
— Mike Amesbury MP (@MikeAmesburyMP) April 15, 2020
He asked his opposite number what assessment the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) has made of COVID-19’s impact on affected leaseholders and whether the government will underwrite their building insurance, provide support for waking watch fees, and speed up the release of its £1bn Building Safety Fund.
Mr Amesbury will sit under shadow housing secretary Thangam Debbonaire, who was announced as John Healey’s replacement last week, following his promotion to defence secretary by new Labour leader Keir Starmer.
First elected at the June 2017 general election, Mr Amesbury is listed on Companies House as a former director of housing association City South Manchester Housing Trust – now part of One Manchester.
A spokesperson for MHCLG said: “Our priority is to ensure residents are safe in their homes. We are bringing about the biggest change in building safety for a generation and our £1.6 billion fund will pay for the replacement of unsafe cladding in high-rise buildings.
“We are supporting industry to continue essential remediation work where it is safe to do so and the secretary of state has secured commitment from local leaders that this will continue during the COVID-19 emergency.”
Update: at 9.13am 17/04/20 a comment from MHCLG was added to the story.
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