---

Housing and the Credit Crunch

Of course. That is the obverse side of the coin and is a consequence of what I believe was a terrible mistake made during the last century—that of segregating households between tenure. The obverse of the sink estate, which is stigmatised because it is seen as solely housing poor people in unsatisfactory accommodation, is the "exclusive" gated community of exclusively wealthy people who have said, "We don't want anyone else anywhere near us, and we are putting a barrier around our homes to keep other people out". That is why the policy is so wrong. It results in social exclusion and social segregation rather than the kind of inclusive and more coherent society that I believe we should promote. We must not, even in difficult times, forget the longer-term objective, which is the creation of a housing market that satisfies the full range of needs with a choice of options and tenures, and a strong commitment to quality. In the past, when the focus was on housing numbers—there are some indications that in recent years that has again become a focus—there was a risk that quality was forgotten. When we produced large numbers of houses, they were not always of good quality, and I have referred to some poor-quality social housing estates that have had to be demolished. Equally unsatisfactory were the unsustainable private estates that were built to low densities with poor energy efficiency standards. They now contribute seriously towards the problem of global warming, but that would take me into another subject that does not form part of this debate. I will conclude my remarks by congratulating the Government on the steps that have been taken to date. We are not anywhere near being out of the woods; we still face huge problems and, during the years ahead, we must sustain the kind of commitment that there has already been. I hope that the Opposition will also show a commitment to sustaining and keeping in place agencies such as the Homes and Communities Agency, which can help to ensure that this country continues to respond to the huge challenges in the housing market.