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Housing

My Lords, I, too, thank the Minister for repeating the important Statement on housing. I join with others in sympathising with all those who are suffering the terrible flooding in many parts of the country. I declare an interest as a member of Berwick Borough Council, which is a housing authority. The Statement seemed to gloss over the past 10 years. The housing situation has not suddenly come upon us, nor has it crept up on us; it has been obvious to quite a few of us during that time. It started when the present Prime Minister became Chancellor and, for the first two years, stuck to the Conservative spending plans on housing. Indeed, as time went on, the amount he spent became less than the money spent by the Conservatives in the last years of the John Major Government. I found that extraordinary, because the huge increases in house prices meant that the Chancellor was getting hefty sums of money in stamp duty that he had had no idea he would get. He missed a trick there, but I have said that many times before in this House. For most of those 10 years, it has been obvious to most people that household formation was outstripping housing supply at quite a rate. The Statement says that house building is at its highest for 17 years. That may be so, but we know that most of the houses are not affordable to anyone any more, and they are certainly not the right type of houses in the right places. We applaud efforts to build more affordable homes, but what steps will the Government take to keep them affordable? I commend to the Minister a system in south Shropshire, which Liberal Democrat councillors came up with and which I suspect civil servants know about, called ““golden shares””, to ensure that houses are kept affordable for local people in the future. I suggest that where homes are built on surplus public sector land—I think that about 550 sites are currently owned by the Government—community land trusts are set up. That means that when the houses are sold on for the first time, they remain affordable. I would like the Minister to reply to that, because it is important. Otherwise we will end up in exactly this position, with houses not being affordable. The Statement also highlighted the role of empty properties. Again, many of us have been working on that issue for years, and we had to drag the Government kicking and screaming to change the council tax regime on empty properties. Then what did they do? They gave the money to the county councils, which are not housing authorities. In our authority we do not get it all back to spend on local housing. Another issue that I have raised many times is VAT on repairs. Many empty properties need repairs and refurbishment, and whereas there is no VAT on new build, there is 17.5 per cent tax on repairs. I welcome the Government’s recognition at last that local authorities best understand the housing needs in their area. But I am a bit confused about the accountability for the spatial strategy. When, some years ago, we dealt in this House with the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Bill that gave the regional assemblies the power to deal with the spatial strategies, I did not expect the regional assemblies to disappear, which I now understand will happen by 2010. However, the Government will now consult them on the new spatial strategies. I hope that the Government are clearer in their mind than I am, given all the things that have happened. One of the references to rural areas is to consult the regional assemblies. In my part of the country, north Northumberland, we are allowed to build about 80 houses a year. We need more than that to keep our communities sustainable, yet the power to influence the spatial strategy has been virtually nil. I hope that the Government will take note of this. In some areas, 50 per cent of houses are second homes. I do not know what the Government are planning to do about that—there was nothing about it in the Statement. Everybody recognises that where 50 per cent of homes are second homes, a lot of facilities, such as post offices and schools, disappear. Over the past 10 years, social housing has been a Cinderella area, not in terms of refurbishment but of new build. I welcome the fact that the Government are trying to do something about it. Again, this situation has not crept up on us—we have lost lots of social housing because of the right to buy and the inability of local authorities to replace those houses. The Government again came late to that. On green homes, Scandinavia and northern Europe have for years been building far more environmentally friendly houses than we have. I welcome the Government’s conversion but, by golly, it has taken a long time. But there is no mention in the Statement of the existing homes, many of which are very energy-inefficient. I know that the Government have put money towards that. In another place, my Private Member’s Bill tried to do more about it—but that was 12 years ago and we still need to do something. Again, the VAT is important in this regard. Will the Minister really look at some of the things that the Government are setting up? I have just returned to local government after about 14 years, and what strikes me is the bureaucratic systems that the Government are setting up. I notice at least four more in this Statement—the community infrastructure fund, the housing and planning delivery grant, new local housing companies and authority special venture vehicles. The Government are consulting on the rules on the treatment of rents and receipts from new homes. I can remember the days when local authorities had a lot more freedom; they knew what the people in their areas wanted and they built some very good homes. I hope that the Government will listen to local authorities—please, please do not make the situation more bureaucratic than it already is.