Housing

Question 1

What is our new national model for shared ownership of houses?

Answer 1

Allowing people in new housing association properties to buy a proportion of their home while paying a subsidised rent on the rest – helping thousands of lower income earners step onto the housing ladder. People will be able to buy more of their home in 1% increments, rather than the 10% (or more) chunks currently required. For new housing association properties, this will be an automatic right for tenants.

Question 2

What is our approach to housing associations?

Answer 2

We’ll work with housing associations on a voluntary basis to determine what offer can be made to the millions of tenants in existing housing association properties. This policy will give millions of people the opportunity to get on the housing ladder and more easily begin the process of owning their own home.

Question 3

What is our approach to Help to Buy?

Answer 3

We backed it. Help to Buy has helped make home ownership a reality for over half a million people. More than 1.4 million people have used Help to Buy ISAs and at last count, 221,405 properties have been bought using the Help to Buy Equity Loan scheme.

Question 4

What is our approach to stamp duty?

Answer 4

We’ve also cut stamp duty for 95% of first-time buyers. This has saved people and families up to £5,000 on the purchase of their home.

Question 5

What is our approach to First-Time Buyers’ Relief?

Answer 5

Over 340,000 families have benefited from our First-Time Buyers’ Relief since it was introduced in 2017, saving over £804 million.

Question 6

What is our record on affordable homes?

Answer 6

We have delivered over 430,000 affordable homes since 2010.

Question 7

What is our track record on social rent?

Answer 7

We have delivered over 135,000 social rents since 2010.

Question 8

What is our track record on the housing stock?

Answer 8

We’ve added 232,800 dwellings to the housing stock. That’s the largest increase since records began in 2010.

Question 9

How many homes have we built since 2010?

Answer 9

1.3 million. 1 million in the last 5 years, including 250,000 in 2018 (the highest in almost 30 years, since records began in 1991).

Question 10

What is Labour’s record on social housing?

Answer 10

And under Labour there was a 420,000 drop in the stock of social housing between 1997 and 2010. We have turned this around with a rise of 79,000 in the stock of social housing since 2010.

Question 11

What does the Budget 2020 mean for the Affordable Homes Programme?

Answer 11

An extra £9.5 billion, taking the total for 2021-2022 to £12.2 billion. This is the largest cash investment in a decade.

Question 12

What does the Budget 2020 mean for planning?

Answer 12

A White Paper on planning in line with our aim to support at least a million more homes.

Question 13

What does the Budget 2020 mean for unsafe cladding?

Answer 13

A £1 billion fund to remove unsafe cladding, with additional funding to remove non-Aluminium Composite Material cladding from residential buildings above 18 metres.

Question 14

What does the Budget 2020 mean for rough sleeping?

Answer 14

Ending it by the end of the Parliament. £643 million of targeted support. 6,000 more beds. A substance treatment service with a full capacity to help 11,000 people a year. Rough sleeping policies will be funded through a Stamp Duty Land Tax on non-UK residents.

Question 15

How much has rough sleeping fallen by in the last year?

Answer 15

9%

Question 16

How many homes will we build in the next 5 years?

Answer 16

1 million more

Question 17

What is our home-building target for the mid-2020s?

Answer 17

300,000 new houses a year.

Question 18

How will we help renters buy?

Answer 18

A new market in long-term fixed rate mortgages, requiring only 5% deposits. 2 million renters could afford mortgage payments, but would struggle to save the deposit.

Question 19

How will we help local first time buyers?

Answer 19

Under a new First Home scheme, homes will be sold at a 30 per cent discount to local first-time buyers.

Question 20

How will we help renters with their deposits?

Answer 20

Renters will be able to have Lifetime Rental Deposits which can be transferred from one rental property to another, making the process of moving home easier and cheaper. At the moment, renters can struggle to find money for the deposit on a new property while they still have money tied up in the deposit on their previous property.

Question 21

What are we doing about foreign buyers?

Answer 21

Introduce a Stamp Duty Land Tax surcharge levied at 3% to apply to companies as well as individuals. The measure will raise up to £120 million a year, and this money will be directed at programmes to help tackle rough sleeping.

At present, foreign individuals and companies who are not tax resident in the UK are able to buy homes as easily as those who live here. They are often bought by wealthy individuals or companies and kept as investments or rented out at inflated prices.

Question 22

What was Labour’s record on house-building?

Answer 22

The lowest peacetime house building rates since the 1920s.

Question 23

What is the effect of foreign purchases on the property market?

Answer 23

A recent study showed that 13 per cent of new London homes were bought by non-residents in 2014 to 2016. A study by Kings College London estimated that a one percentage point rise in the volume share of residential transactions registered to overseas companies leads to an increase of about 2.1 per cent in house prices, and lowers the overall homeownership rate.

Question 24

Which other countries have similar charges to give their citizens preferential access to homes?

Answer 24

Australia, Singapore, Canada and Israel

Demand fell in all of these countries as a result, as did the proportion of foreign buyers.

Question 25

What is our record on first-time buyers?

Answer 25

There were more first-time buyers in August 2019 than in any month since 2007.

Question 26

What does the South Sunderland Growth Area Cluster receive from the 2020 Budget?

Answer 26

£25.4 million from the Housing Infrastructure fund to deliver road and infrastructure improvements to unlock up to 4,066 homes

Question 27

What does the South Lancaster Growth Catalyst receive from the 2020 Budget?

Answer 27

£140 million to unlock up to 9,185 homes.

Question 28

How will we help local people get local homes?

Answer 28

Enable councils to use developers’ contributions via the planning process to discount homes in perpetuity by a third for local people who cannot otherwise afford to buy in their area. Councils could use this to prioritise key workers in their area.

Question 29

What is our policy on right to buy?

Answer 29

Maintain a commitment to a Right to Buy for all council tenants. We will also maintain the voluntary Right to Buy scheme agreed with housing associations. Following the successful voluntary pilot scheme in the Midlands, we will evaluate new pilot areas to spread the scheme. And, we have extended the Help to Buy scheme from 2021 to 2023 and we will review new ways to support home ownership following its completion.

Question 30

What is our approach to leaseholds?

Answer 30

We will continue with our reforms to leasehold including implementing a ban on the sale of new leasehold homes, restricting ground rends to a peppercorn, and providing necessary mechanisms of redress for tenants.

Question 31

What is our approach to no-fault evictions?

Answer 31

Abolish them.

Question 32

What will our White Paper on social housing include?

Answer 32

Measures to provide greater redress, better regulation , and improving the quality of social housing.

Question 33

What programmes will we expand to tackle rough sleeping?

Answer 33

Programmes like the Rough Sleeping Initiative and Housing First.

Question 34

What is our approach to the Homelessness Reduction Act?

Answer 34

We will fully enforce it.

Question 35

What is our approach to housing infrastructure?

Answer 35

We will amend planning rules so that the infrastructure - roads, schools GP surgeries - comes before people moving into new homes. A new £10 billion Single Housing Infrastructure Fund will help deliver it faster.

Question 36

What is our approach to housing architecture?

Answer 36

We will ask every community to decide on its own design standards for new development, allowing residents a greater say on the style and design of developments in their area, with local councils encouraging to build more beautiful architecture.

We will support the creation of new kinds of homes that have low energy bills and which support our environmental targets and will expect all new streets to be lined with trees.

We will encourage innovative design and technology to make housing more affordable, accessible, and suitable for disabled people and an ageing population.

Question 37

What is our approach to building safety in the wake of Grenfell?

Answer 37

We have already committed to implementing and legislating for all the recommendations of the Hackitt Review and the first phase of the independent inquiry.

We will continue to work with industry, housing associations and individuals to ensure every home is safe and secure.

We will support high rise residential residents with the removal of unsafe cladding, and continue with our rigorous process of materials testing.

Question 38

What is our approach to self-build?

Answer 38

We will support people who want to build their own homes find plots of land and access the Help to Buy schemes.

Question 39

What is our policy on the Green Belt?

Answer 39

We will protect and enhance the Green Belt. We will improve poor quality land, increase biodiversity, and make the countryside more accessible for local community use.

In order to safeguard our green spaces, we will continue to prioritise brownfield development, particularly for the regeneration of our cities and towns.

Question 40

What did we do to Stamp Duty in the Chancellor’s Summer Statement 2020?

Answer 40

Temporarily suspended it on all homes under £500,000 from 9 July 2020 till 31 March 2021.

Increased the threshold at which Stamp Duty applies from £125,000 to £500,000.

So, 90% of people trying to move up the property ladder will pay no Stamp Duty. That amounts to an average saving of £4,500.

Question 41

What are we doing to decarbonise social housing?

Answer 41

A £50 million pilot scheme for decarbonising social housing in the Chancellor’s Summer Statement 2020

Question 42

What is the Green Homes Grant?

Answer 42

A new grant announced in the Chancellor’s Summer Statement 2020 that will provide £2 bn to allow people to apply a voucher to fund at least 2/3 of the cost of upgrading their home’s energy performance. This equates to up to £5,000 per home.