Rachel Maclean: If Registered Providers (RPs) sell homes that have been grant funded as affordable housing on the open market then the agencies who provided the funding can recover that grant. Those agencies can require the RPs to reinvest money in new affordable housing. All social housing providers are required to comply with standards set by the Regulator for Social Housing. These standards maintain that...
Rachel Maclean: It is obvious that a rising population due to net migration puts pressure on housing supply, ultimately leading to rising prices. The standard method is used by councils to inform the preparation of their local plans, by considering how many new households there might be in an area in the future, as well as local wages and house prices. The Government is committed to delivering new 300,000...
Rachel Maclean: I will not give way. There is no credibility at all on the Labour Front Bench. You do not have to take my word for it; just look at housing delivery in London and in Wales, where Labour has been in government, with all the powers, funding and levers, for many years. It has an atrocious record on house building, housing delivery and affordable house building. It is hardly surprising, when...
Rachel Maclean: Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. We did discuss the matter of housing targets in the Lords debate. The Lib Dems’ policy to have 380,000 houses a year—that is certainly this week’s policy—has been described by their own former leader as Thatcherite. So anyone contemplating voting Liberal Democrat needs to know what this means. I am afraid that they can no longer sustain a position of...
Rachel Maclean: The National Planning Policy Framework sets out that local authorities should assess the size, type and tenure of housing needed for different groups in the community, including those who require supported housing, and reflect this in planning policies. We also published guidance in 2019 to help councils put policies in place to achieve this. In addition, as part of our recent consultation on...
Rachel Maclean: I thank my hon. Friend very much. He represents a new town, as I do—I am very proud to represent the new town of Redditch. We are absolutely committed to building the right houses in the right places, and that includes enabling local communities to have more say over the design and type of housing. We are doing that through the Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill: through design codes,...
Rachel Maclean: The Government is committed to increasing the supply of new homes, including affordable housing, so we can meet our target of 300,000 new homes a year. As has been the case under successive administrations, it is for Local Authorities to set out their plans to address housing need in their areas, including how much of that should be for affordable housing. Our £11.5bn Affordable Homes...
Rachel Maclean: The Government is committed to increasing the supply of new homes, including affordable housing, so we can meet our target of 300,000 new homes a year. As has been the case under successive administrations, it is for local authorities to set out their plans to address housing need in their areas, including how much of that should be for affordable housing. Our £11.5 billion Affordable Homes...
Rachel Maclean: The Government is committed to increasing the supply of affordable housing. We are currently investing £11.5 billion through our Affordable Homes Programme which will deliver tens of thousands of homes for rent and sale right across the country. Since 2010 we have delivered over 632,600 new affordable homes, including over 441,612 affordable homes for rent, of which over 162,800 homes have...
Rachel Maclean: The Affordable Homes Programme (AHP) provides capital grants for new homes. The Government values the role of smaller housing providers in delivering housing supply where it is most needed. The AHP enables smaller providers to access grant funding through a Continuous Market Engagement (CME) function, which is designed to support individual schemes. Providers can be paid on a cashflow basis,...
Rachel Maclean: In 2019, the government published Guidance on Housing for Older and Disabled People, to help local authorities plan for the housing needs of these groups. Among other things, this guidance set out the range of needs local authorities should assess, as well as the evidence that local authorities can consider when identifying the housing needs of older and disabled people.
Rachel Maclean: ...set out the steps they propose to take to address the particular needs of victims of abuse in their local area, including both adults and children. The government recognises the merits of the Child House model of support, in which children affected by sexual abuse receive joined-up services in a single, child-friendly setting. We have provided approximately £7.5m towards a pilot of the...
Rachel Maclean: The Affordable Homes Programme funds a variety of affordable and social housing. It funds traditional social housing, through social rent and affordable rent, alongside affordable home ownership options, like Shared Ownership. The provision of affordable housing is part of the Government's plan to build more homes and provide aspiring homeowners with a step onto the housing ladder. Our £11.5...
Rachel Maclean: ...very much for drawing the House’s attention to the issue of damp and mould. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has been extremely active in pushing forward improvements to social rented housing. It is right that we should level that up to private rented housing. We will be bringing forward the decent home standards in the private rented sector in the renters reform Bill.
Rachel Maclean: The Housing Revenue Account (HRA) is not a centrally administered fund that local authorities can draw on. It is a ring fenced account within the authority's general fund, where it accounts for and records income and expenditure relating to its council housing stock. Any local housing authority with more than 200 homes is required to maintain an HRA. Overall delivery of new affordable homes...
Rachel Maclean: ...completions in England that are purpose built flats are shown in Live Table 254, at the following link. These cover new build dwellings only and should be regarded as a leading indicator of overall housing supply. The department also publishes an annual release entitled 'Housing supply: net additional dwellings, England', which is the primary and most comprehensive measure of housing...
Rachel Maclean: It is right to point out to the hon. Lady that, since the Government’s announcement in December 2017 that we would ban the sale of leasehold houses, the number of newbuild leasehold houses coming on to the market has significantly decreased. Land Registry records show that 1.2 % of newbuild houses were registered as leasehold in 2020 compared with 17% previously, so the Government’s...
Rachel Maclean: It is absolutely fantastic news that the House has come together to look at these much-needed changes. I pay tribute to my colleagues all across the House who have spoken about their experiences. My children are too old for this to be an issue for me. In my former life, before coming here, I was a human resources director, and I was the person responsible for writing policies. I say to the...
Rachel Maclean: ...with the legislative measures that we have set out, including the Building Safety Act and all the other work that goes behind that, as the Secretary of State said. I was asked about social housing regulation. The direction of travel is clear: residents have spoken and reform is coming to the social housing sector. We are committed to implementing the new regulatory regime enabled by the...
Rachel Maclean: I would like to gently correct the assertion that the hon. Lady made about watering down housing targets. The Government are committed to building 300,000 houses across the country. We are building them in the right places, with community support. We understand the importance of social rented housing, and that is why we made a commitment in our levelling-up White Paper to ensure that more are...
