Housing supply and homelessness debated by Lords

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On Thursday 5 December, members of the House of Lords debated increasing housing supply and tackling homelessness.

Debate

Baroness Warwick of Undercliffe (Labour), chair of the board for the Property Ombudsman, put forward the debate.

This was a general debate. During debates, members put their experience to good use to discuss current issues and draw the government's attention to concerns. 

Members speaking

Members speaking in the debate included:

Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green), vice president of the Local Government Association
Lord Best (Crossbench), former chair of Hanover Housing Association
Baroness Grender (Liberal Democrats), former director of communications for housing charity, Shelter
Lord Young of Cookham (Conservative), former housing minister and local councillor.

Opening the debate, Baroness Warwick said:

'Temporary accommodation was created as a short-term solution, but the rise in homelessness and lack of suitable social housing means that households can spend years in it, even where social housing is available.'

Lord Hardie added:

'[Affordable homes] should remain as part of the public sector housing stock and should be excluded from the right-to-buy legislation. Otherwise, the public sector housing stock will be depleted of its most modern and attractive houses and the issue of homelessness will once again be exacerbated.'

Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Labour), Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, responded on behalf of the government:

'In the long-term housing strategy and the homelessness strategy, both to be published next year, we will set out our vision for a housing market that works for all, and how we will get back on track to ending homelessness.'