Housing

Part of the debate – in Westminster Hall at 3:49 pm on 15 November 2001.

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Photo of Ms Oona King Ms Oona King Labour, Bethnal Green and Bow 3:49, 15 November 2001

I shall endeavour to lose half of my speech as I proceed.

As ever, I am pleased to contribute to a debate on housing, which remains the most pressing problem in my constituency. I have often described my constituency as a tale of two cities, because the affluence of the City and riverside living in glass penthouses in docklands contrasts with poverty, deprivation and hopelessness in the borough that ranks first on the deprivation index. When Charles Dickens wrote "A Tale of Two Cities" in 1859, he opened it with lines that apply to today:

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times".

One could say that about housing in east London. It is the best of times: the Government have tripled the amount of money we have to spend on social housing. It is the worst of times: some families in east London, and elsewhere around the country, live in housing as bad as any seen in this country in the past 50 years.

I am pleased that the provisions in part II of the Homes Bill have been quickly brought back in this Parliament in the Homelessness Bill, which fulfils our 1997 manifesto commitment. It will put right the appalling injustice heaped upon people who are homeless by the previous Conservative Administration. This debate will allow hon. Members to reflect on concerns that we had during the early stages of the Homelessness Bill, and to highlight wider policy issues.

I tabled an amendment to the Homes Bill to introduce greater protection for those experiencing racial harassment, so I am pleased that that issue has been dealt with comprehensively in the Homelessness Bill. I am equally pleased to hear about the progress that has been made on the bed-and-breakfast targets following the establishment of the bed-and-breakfast taskforce. Families should not live in what are often appalling conditions in bed and breakfasts for anything other than a short initial assessment period.

The Government have placed on a statutory footing an applicant's right to accept an offer and simultaneously request a review of its suitability. The court judgment in March on this issue was enormously disappointing. It particularly affects applicants in Tower Hamlets because they get only 24 hours to decide whether to accept an offer. The Homelessness Bill will make the position clear, and I am glad that there has been no dissent about that provision coming into effect as soon as the Bill receives Royal Assent.

I am disappointed that we could not persuade Ministers to give applicants a statutory three-day period to decide whether to accept an offer. The homeless have a right to seek independent advice, and as legislators we have an obligation to ensure that they receive the time that they need to get that advice. It would benefit my constituents if, in the Minister's closing remarks, she would make it plain that she regards a three-day period as the bare minimum to which the homeless should be entitled. In the absence of legislation, such a statement is the only thing that gives me any prospect of convincing the London borough of Tower Hamlets that its current 24-hour period is insufficient.

Similarly, I hope that the Minister will continue to press her colleagues in the Department of Health to close the loophole thrown open by the High Court ruling in May that social services have no obligation to intentionally homeless parents of children assessed as vulnerable and in need. We are forcing homeless parents to choose between having their children sleep on the streets or having them taken into care, which is no choice at all. Ministers have a chance, which they must take, to end that practice by amending the Adoption and Children Bill, which is currently in Special Standing Committee.

I hope that the Minister will give a commitment that the extra costs that local authorities will incur in meeting their new duties will be fully funded. I have raised that matter with her before. The Government mentioned a figure of £8 million to help with those costs, but that may fall short of what is needed. Some authorities have estimated substantial extra costs resulting from the requirement to examine the applications of 16 and 17-year-olds. The Government were right to give 16 and 17-year-olds extra protection, but would be wrong to put the cost on to local authority housing budgets, which are already stretched to breaking point.

The Minister will have received a copy of the response by the London group of Labour MPs to the public consultation on the forthcoming national homelessness strategy. The strategy must address two key priorities: first, the use of temporary accommodation must be reduced, especially by families with children; secondly, homelessness among those not eligible for priority need under the new legislation must be tackled and prevented.

Skipping several pages of my speech, I move on to the Government's commitment to a decent home for all by 2010. Everyone must remember that that commitment is not just to those picked up by the homelessness safety net. It is also to parents sharing a bedroom with their young children, or sleeping in the living room. It is a commitment to teenage brothers and sisters who have to share a bedroom. I met a 19-year-old girl who had been sharing a bedroom with her father for most of her life. It is a commitment to teachers, nurses and police officers who cannot afford to live in the areas where their services are desperately needed. It is a commitment to all the young people in London who cannot afford to rent or buy a place to live in the area where they were born and grew up. It is a commitment to disabled tenants stuck at the top of tower blocks with lifts that do not work, and to the many young mothers with toddlers who are stuck with prams on the eighth or twelfth floor and cannot get in or out of their accommodation. Finally, it is a commitment to pensioners left isolated and afraid in unsuitable and dilapidated accommodation.

To fulfil that commitment, we must have the funding. It is imperative for London to retain its existing share of approved development programme funding. I hope that, even at this late stage, a forward-looking household growth indicator can be included in the formula. That would guarantee ADP funding for the tens of thousands of new affordable homes that London needs.

I shall skip more pages to enable other hon. Members to contribute, but I will mention the transfer process. I pay tribute to one-stop transfer that has taken place in Tower Hamlets. Tower Hamlets Community Housing, under the determined leadership of Mike Tyrrell, is already ahead of the planned estate redevelopment schedule. It is important, however, to recognise that the stock transfer process in general needs support. I give it unreserved support in Tower Hamlets, but Shelter's recent report "Out of Stock" makes it clear that other local authorities have not been so good in ensuring that their contracts give people who transfer the greatest possible protection. That has had a detrimental effect on housing outcomes for homeless applicants.

We should accept Shelter's recommendations, which are: first, that the Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions review its current guidelines on stock transfer; secondly, that changes be made to the regulations governing the contracting out of homelessness and housing functions; and, thirdly, that greater emphasis be placed on meeting need in the Housing Corporation's regulatory code and statutory housing management guidance.

My final remarks are on the funding needed for affordable housing. We are not funding the building of enough social houses. Mr. Clifton-Brown mentioned the right-to-buy scheme. I have an astonishing statistic: in London last year, more than 11,000 council properties were sold off but only 3,000 new units were built to replace them.

In my experience, right to buy has been the single most disastrous policy. Although I agree that people should have the right to buy, we must safeguard the amount of stock that is available for social housing and consider other ways of doing so—for example, through the right to acquire. An extra £1.25 billion a year is needed in the housing budget. I urge the Minister to do everything in her power to persuade our colleagues in the Treasury that that money must be invested in socially affordable housing.