Housing

Part of the debate – in Westminster Hall at 12:10 pm on 17 October 2006.

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Photo of Michael Gove Michael Gove Shadow Minister (Communities and Local Government) (Housing and Planning) 12:10, 17 October 2006

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr. Williams. I congratulate Ms Keeble on securing this debate. In her speech she showed a passionate and moving commitment to the plight of homeless people. I know from her contributions in the House that the homelessness crisis has been one of her top political priorities and she has helped to force the issue up the agenda. Her eloquence today reminded us of how effective an advocate she is for the vulnerable and those in need.

I entirely endorse the hon. Lady's comments about temporary accommodation. As Mr. Love said, the quality of temporary accommodation in which some homeless people find themselves has improved over the years, but it is still almost always not good enough and not what a civilised society wants.

Dr. Gibson mentioned that, to his surprise, the number of people in temporary accommodation in the east of England is now 171 per cent. of what it had been in 1997. I must disappoint the hon. Gentleman because the situation in the east of England is slightly better than in the country as a whole where the number of people in temporary accommodation has doubled. It is 200 per cent. more than it was in 1997. I know that the Government have made a commitment to halve that but if they do so they will only restore the figure to what it was in 1997.

I pay tribute to the Government's commitment, which is part of their overall worthy and admirable commitment to help to reduce poverty, particularly child poverty. However, we must put the statistics into perspective because the hon. Member for Northampton, North, for understandable reasons as a loyal member of her party, thought it was appropriate to cast aspersions on the Conservative record. I am the first to acknowledge that between 1979 and 1997 Conservative Governments made mistakes, but we should bear in mind two matters. The original steps to tackle the acute crisis of homelessness occurred under a Conservative leadership with Michael Howard's championing of the rough sleepers initiative. In addition, during the early 1990s and particularly the 1980s, Conservative Governments were committed to increasing the supply of social housing. As the hon. Lady almost acknowledged, the record for supplying social housing under Conservative Governments was much more successful than the Government's record since 1997.