Housing Need (London) (Hansard, 24 October 1984)

§ 14. Mr. Dubs
asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what is his assessment of unmet housing need in inner London.

§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Environment (Sir George Young)
The assessment of housing need is primarily a matter for the local authorities concerned. The Government's assessment is based on the generalised needs index, which is discussed each year with the local authority associations, supplemented by information provided by the inner London boroughs and the GLC in their annual housing investment programme bids.

§ Mr. Dubs
When will the Minister accept that there is a desperate housing shortage, particularly in inner London, but also in other parts of the country? When will he accept that the shortage means that families with young children are trapped in tower blocks, that families which ought to be given transfers on medical grounds have no way of getting out and that it is offensive to such badly housed families that local authorities such as the Conservative London borough of Wandsworth should have sold empty council houses, which are standing empty again as the buyers try to sell them and make a profit?

§ Sir George Young
The HIP allocation for the London borough of Wandsworth was increased by 5 per cent. this year, and only two boroughs received a higher proportionate increase. The number of improvement grants in the borough increased from 423 in 1981–82 to 2,500 last year and the borough has received £65 million from the sale of council houses. I hope the hon. Gentleman recognises that the sale of council houses has generated additional resources for hard-pressed boroughs such as Wandsworth.

§ Mr. Couchman
Is my hon. Friend aware that large sums are being paid by the DHSS to recipients of unemployment benefit and social security to make mortgage interest repayments and that those sums are being suborned because they are being paid direct to the claimants rather than to the building societies?

§ Mr. Speaker
Order. The question on the Order Paper refers to housing need in inner London.

§ Mr. Couchman
I should like to relate the question to housing needs, Mr. Speaker.

§ Mr. Speaker
Order. I am sorry, but the question must be related to inner London.

§ Mr. Simon Hughes
Can the Under-Secretary tell us what positive steps the Government are taking to deal with the amount of empty property in inner London—not only public but private—particularly as the problem is affected by the legislation introduced earlier this Session? What are they doing about the severe problem caused by the fact that whereas 70 per cent. of Londoners earn £9,000 a year or less, the average price of a one or two-bedroomed property is now £30,000 or more? Many people are not able to exercise the right to buy, and many young Londoners are being forced out of inner London if they want to live in their own homes.

§ Sir George Young
The hon. Gentleman rightly draws attention to the fact that on 1 April this year over 31,000 dwellings owned by the public sector in London were empty. My Department has initiated a series of meetings with the 30 worst offenders, and we hope to announce the results of that exercise quite soon and to take further initiatives. The recent increase in discounts brought in by the Housing and Building Control Act 1984 will, I hope, bring within the reach of more people in London the opportunity of home ownership.

§ Mr. John Fraser
Will the Minister admit that inner London has an acute housing problem? Will he undertake that there will be no cuts in the housing investment programmes for the inner London boroughs in the review of housing investment for next year, which the Department must now be undertaking?

§ Sir George Young
On the question of public sector investment, I draw the hon. Gentleman's attention to an excellent article today in The Guardian, which I am sure he reads. The heading is: In the beginning was the council estate". I shall quote some words from the article. It is the total dependance on the public sector which has created the problem in the first place … We have got to involve the private sector in the solution. Those words were uttered by the Labour leader of Knowsley borough council.