§ Viscount Brentfordasked Her Majesty's Government:
How many homes they now consider to be unfit for habitation; and what action is being taken about them. [HL3374]
§ Lord WhittyThe 1996 English House Condition Survey estimates that approximately 1.5 million homes are unfit for habitation.
The Government have already acted to improve the condition of the housing stock. Nearly £800 million extra has been made available for housing last year and this year through the Capital Receipts Initiative, delivering improvements in around 300,000 homes. Following the Comprehensive Spending Review, an additional £3.9 billion are being made available for investment in housing over the next three years. Most of the additional resources over the next three years are being directed through local authorities, enabling them to begin to tackle the backlog of renovation work on their stock and deliver improvements to around one and a half million more council homes. Local authorities may also use these resources to enhance their existing programmes for the improvement of private sector stock, where this best meets local needs and priorities.