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18 July 2007 : Column 113WH—continued
3.52 pm
Mr. Andrew Love (Edmonton) (Lab/Co-op): I congratulate the hon. Member for Shipley (Philip Davies) on securing this debate, but I suggest that there might have been a slight mismatch between the title of the debate and his contribution. I welcome the Minister to his new role and congratulate the Government on placing housing at the top of their agenda, as the hon. Gentleman said at the start of the debate.
The issue at the forefront is making housing affordable for the many and not just the few. Members on both sides of the House look forward to next week’s statement and Green Paper. Of course, there are demand issues, which we have talked about a little, but I think that the focus will primarily be on long-term supply, because such issues have developed over a long period. We can all remember back to the ’50s and ’60s, when it was not unusual for 300,000 houses to be built in a year. The Government are saying, and I agree wholeheartedly, that we need a significant and sustained increase in supply. The figure of 3 million houses has been mentioned, which I welcome as a recognition of the need that exists. We are also talking about a planning Bill to speed up the development process, and about partnerships between Departments in order to assemble the land that will make all that possible. We are doing all that in the context of trying to protect the environment and to build mainly on brownfield land.
I had a great deal of sympathy with the call of my right hon. Friend the Member for Oxford, East (Mr. Smith) for greater flexibility. We all know the problems: we face
an acute housing shortage, and it is simple to see why. We are producing roughly 160,000 to 180,000 new homes a year, but household formation, of whatever sort, is running at 220,000 a year, so there is an enormous need out there. It is not just about first-time buyers, although they do face significant problems. In London, the average deposit for a first-time buyer is about £40,000. How many people can afford that? They are having to take on mortgages of five to six times their income. Such levels have not been seen since the 1980s, and it is tough out there for many first-time buyers.
Many people cannot afford to own their own house, and there are 500,000 overcrowded homes in the country. We all know the impact that that has on health, education and children’s future prospects. Some 90,000 people are homeless or in temporary accommodation, and I welcome the Government’s commitment to halving that number in the next few years. Given the enormous need out there, when people say, “Yes, we need to build more homes, but let’s not have too many or have them in my area,” I wonder how they would answer the question of how first-time buyers are to get on to the property ladder. What do they say about people who are homeless?
The case has been made that we need to increase supply; indeed, it was made by Kate Barker in her report, which said specifically that the level of market housing is relatively stable. The problem has primarily and most acutely been with the level of building of social, rented accommodation, which is at a quarter of that in the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s. We all know why that happened, and we need to respond. The Government have responded in some ways. They have recognised and increased the provision of social, rented accommodation in the past few years, particularly this year, but we need to do more if we are to solve our housing problem.
Cambridge university has carried out several studies on housing, and it suggests that we need 10,000 to 20,000 additional new homes per year. I do not suggest that those figures should be a target, but I understand that the Select Committee has endorsed them as a place to start, at least. We must recognise that there is a great deal more to do, and that there are ways of dealing with these matters. We should use more modern construction methods to build homes more quickly. I hope that the mythical £60,000 house that the previous Deputy Prime Minister used to talk about can still become a reality.
We also need to think about having more family-sized accommodation rather than the one and two-bedroom units that seem to be churned out. Infrastructure has been mentioned. We must all recognise that the sustainability of the communities that we are creating has to be a major priority—my right hon. Friend the Member for Oxford, East touched on that important issue. If we are to balance all the different aspects, we need to take regional factors into account. The Select Committee discussed that issue, and others have commented on it. The housing provision issues in London differ from those in the wider south-east or in Oxford. We need to take on board local opinion, knowledge and experience. The regional housing boards have an important role to play if we are to get the balance right regarding the type of accommodation that we are delivering.
John Cummings (in the Chair): Order. I have to move us on to the winding-up speeches.
3.59 pm
Paul Holmes (Chesterfield) (LD): Thank you, Mr. Cummings. I congratulate the hon. Member for Shipley (Philip Davies) on securing an important debate. Given the respect that I have for things that I have heard him say previously, regrettably, I cannot congratulate him on his analysis of the solutions to the housing problems facing this country. Family breakdown is an issue, but his party’s proposals for a tax break for married couples, irrespective of whether or not they have children, will hardly solve the problem, just as it did not in the 1970s. I was sad to hear him raise an immigration scare as being the answer to the housing problem.
The hon. Member for Milton Keynes, South-West (Dr. Starkey) talked about the Select Committee report and gave the example of 80,000 people from London moving out to the south and the same number of immigrants moving in. The 80,000 people moving into London would not constitute 80,000 households, because many of them are young, single, eastern Europeans coming to work temporarily, for two or three years, before going home with their savings, and they are living in rented flats in multiple occupation. I can think of a small number of Polish workers who are doing the same thing even in Chesterfield, which has a small immigrant population.
In my constituency, immigration accounts for 3 per cent. or less of the population, and many of those people are second or third-generation English people. A huge housing problem exists even there. The waiting list for social housing in Chesterfield has trebled in the past 10 years, and that has nothing to do with immigration.
There is a housing crisis, so, like the right hon. Member for Oxford, East (Mr. Smith), I am pleased that this debate is taking place. Like him, I have been raising the issue since I entered Parliament—that was six years ago. The hon. Member for Shipley rightly said that there was a need for more private house building. The home ownership figure in this country is 71 per cent.—the highest in Europe—and it is difficult to see how much higher that can be pushed. The private housing market is overheated and under-supplied; first-time buyers and key workers cannot buy. Last week, in response to a statement by the Prime Minister, one hon. Member gave the example of an affordable flat in London that went on the market at £300,000. That makes a nonsense of much of the talk about providing affordable housing for people to buy.
Unless we do something about the housing market, we are in danger of entering another negative equity slump such as the one that we experienced in the 1980s and early 1990s. Mortgage debt has increased by 150 per cent.; lending is at three to three-and-a-half times people’s income; interest rates have increased and are still climbing; the number of people in debt has doubled, and the number of repossessions has trebled this year compared with last year; and the fixed rates for the mortgages of 2 million people will end in the next 18 months. Therefore, the problem will get much worse in the near future.
Where will the new build come from to help us start to tackle the issue of the supply of houses for people to buy? The situation is not as bad as some people paint it: builders have a land bank for about 200,000 houses,
which is a year’s supply; identified brownfield sites will provide about 1 million houses; and there is scope for 1 million new housing premises over shops and commercial premises in cities and towns across the country. If we were to let councils have more flexibility and control, instead of having to respond to diktat from regional government offices and from London, they, too, would be able to bring more land on stream.
My constituency contains brownfield sites that are waiting to be developed. It is doing a good job on brownfield sites. It also contains greenfield sites—not green belt sites—that were identified for housing nearly 30 years ago, but they are rightly not being brought into housing use until all the brownfield areas have been redeveloped.
The greatest gap in the speech made by the hon. Member for Shipley was on the need for social housing—I believe that he allocated just six words to that. The waiting list for social housing has increased from 1 million to 1.6 million in the 10 years of this Government, which is a disgrace. Some 1 million children live in overcrowded accommodation, and 130,000 children live in unsuitable, temporary accommodation. Councils have been forced to privatise their housing stock, and are starved of funds if they do not. Only 4,000 council houses were built in the past 10 years, compared with 400,000 in the first 10 years of even Mrs. Thatcher’s Government. We are told that housing associations are the answer, but they have not even built enough houses every year in the past 10 years to replace the right-to-buy losses.
John Cummings (in the Chair): Order. We must move on. I call Jacqui Smith.
4.4 pm
Mrs. Jacqui Lait (Beckenham) (Con): Thank you, Mr. Cummings, but I am not the Home Secretary.
I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Shipley (Philip Davies) on securing this debate. The mere fact that there have been so many diverse contributions shows how interesting the House finds the subject of housing. I also congratulate the Minister on his first ministerial appearance in this Chamber. Perhaps he could take the message back to the House authorities that a full-day debate in Government time on housing would be worth the investment.
We are beginning to drill down into what the issues are. The hon. Member for Milton Keynes, South-West (Dr. Starkey) pointed out that longevity is one of the issues involved in the demand for housing. I am approaching my 60th birthday. I maintain that 60 is the new 40, but I am a victim of longevity. Several hon. Members referred to single-household formation and family breakdown, and those are also relevant issues.
I commend to all hon. Members the extensive report by the Commission on Social Justice, because its analysis is spot on and its recommendations will help us to move towards healing many places in our society.
I do not think that anyone disagreed with the view that migration was part of the reason for increased demand. There are many forms of migration, including internal migration, which the hon. Member for Milton Keynes, South-West mentioned. We are also well aware of positive inward migration into this country from
other countries. It is accepted by the Government and is good for the economy. I do not have a problem with it, provided that it is controlled, that there are proper border police, and that we have clear knowledge about whom we are welcoming into this country.
The previous Home Secretary said that the Home Office was “not fit for purpose”. Part of the reason for that was that the immigration and nationality directorate was unable to deal with the flow of migrants and the people that we have here. That has been confirmed by a written answer that I received recently from the Home Office, saying that it would be five years before many cases will be sorted out. If people wait five years for a decision, not only will we have a dislocated society; we will also be unable to take the greatest advantage of those who are legitimately here, so that they can get into the economy.
Like everyone else, I look forward to next week’s Green Paper. I hope that it is in better shape than that reported by Peter Riddell in The Times, that there is meat and substance to it, and that it addresses the issue of the green belt. Last week, the Secretary of State indicated that she was thinking of not defending the green belt, but by that very afternoon No. 10 had issued a denial. I hope that the right hon. Member for Oxford, East (Mr. Smith) has noted that denial and that the green belt will remain inviolate.
Yesterday, a statement was made on ending the regional assemblies and giving control over housing to even more undemocratic organisations—the regional development agencies. I must declare an interest: my husband is not only leader of East Sussex county council but deputy chairman of the South East England Development Agency. There are issues on which he and I do not necessarily have to agree. This is already on the record, but I believe that SEEDA or any other development agency making any decisions about housing in the south-east takes away from local people control over their own environment. The best way to get people to acknowledge that they want housing is for them to own that decision, rather than for it to be dictated by central control, as is already the leitmotif of this new Government. After three weeks, we have gone back to the old socialism.
4.8 pm
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Mr. Iain Wright): It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship for my first Westminster Hall debate as a Minister, Mr. Cummings. You are my next-door neighbour in terms of parliamentary constituencies.
I congratulate the hon. Member for Shipley (Philip Davies) on securing an important debate. I like and respect him too. We worked well together on the Modernisation Committee. This has been a fascinating and important debate, reflecting the importance of the subject. Its energy, vibrancy and passion have made it extremely interesting, although at times I thought that I was in a debate on immigration and that I had been transported back in time to the 1950s. It is important that we have had this debate to ensure that this issue is at the top of the political agenda.
I do not have much time left in which to speak. I want to respond to all the points made by hon. Members. If I do not manage to do so, with their permission, I shall
write to them. As a starting point, it is worth setting out where we started. Over the past 10 years, a great deal of improvement has been made in housing. Home owners have seen the value of their properties increase, thanks in some degree to sustained economic growth, stability and an implicit recognition on the part of home owners that interest rates will remain historically low and stable for the foreseeable future. The number of households living in non-decent housing in the social sector has fallen by more than 1 million. Concerted action means that homelessness is down by nearly 30 per cent., and the number of people sleeping rough has fallen from 1,850 on a single night in 1998 to just over 500 last year. Local authorities are also on course to halve the number of households living in temporary accommodation by 2010.
A climate of economic growth and stability, unlike the boom and bust of previous decades, has led to 1 million more home owners over the past 10 years. I welcome that, because it is absolutely right—indeed, vital—that the Government facilitate such ambitions and aspiration for hard-working families.
Most hon. Members who participated in the debate referred to demographics and how that squeezes demand. We have an ageing population, and more of us are living alone as a result of social changes, which produces a demand for new and rented homes. That imbalance is growing as demand rises faster than supply. As house prices have increased faster than wages, it has become increasingly difficult for young people to get on the housing ladder. It is important that we act now to ensure that present and future generations can access the housing market and reap the benefits of home ownership.
Projections show that on average, from now until 2026, 223,000 additional households are needed each year. In 2006, 185,000 extra homes were delivered, giving a shortfall of almost 40,000 homes. Unless we act now to address the problem, the serious problems of affordability will continue to worsen, further pricing people out of the market. Let us be blunt. We cannot bury our heads in the sand, ignore the problem and hope that some other community will deal with the matter that Opposition Members have alluded to.
A fundamental question—I do not think the Conservative party has addressed it—is how to ensure that our children, first-time buyers and young families will be able to afford homes in their own communities without relying on help from their families. Some families cannot tap into wealth. We must do something about that, and the Government are addressing the matter in a way that other parties are not.
My hon. Friend the Member for Edmonton (Mr. Love) and others rightly mentioned the imbalance in supply. In her review of housing supply, which was published in 2004, Kate Barker recognised that there had been an under-supply of new housing for many years, and called for a step change to address that. The Government’s response in 2005 set out an ambition to increase the rate of new housing supply in England to 200,000 a year over the next decade, alongside a package of measures to reform the planning system, provide more social housing and protect the environment.
I return to what I would like to see in housing, which is the biggest domestic issue facing this country, and facing aspiration and our ability to fulfil our potential
as a country. There seems to be an issue, because Conservative Members say that they fully understand the need for housing and agree full scale that there is a need for extra housing, but not in their communities. That is reminiscent of the phrase,
“Lord, make me pure, but not yet.”
As my right hon. Friend the Member for Oxford, East (Mr. Smith) said, we need a grown-up discussion about how local authorities can engage properly in a regional and local debate about the availability of affordable and social housing in all our communities. The suggestion of putting up signs saying, “This community is full up”—that is what the hon. Member for Shipley seemed to allude to—is unsustainable. Conservative Members must ensure that we have that grown-up debate, and facilitate and lead it in their communities. Tory MPs sign early-day motions saying that we cannot have more housing in their areas, such as Cambridgeshire and East Sussex, but that is simply wrong and does not help to fulfil the potential of those areas .
Mrs. Lait: It is hardly appropriate for me to talk about East Sussex, but it has agreed to an increase in housing. It might not be what the Government want, but it is increasing housing there.
Mr. Wright: That is the fundamental point. Targets have been set so low, and 30 additional houses in a county is unacceptable, given the level of economic potential and development that could be there.
In conclusion—I realise that I am out of time, Mr. Cummings—I pledge to write to every hon. Member here.
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