Housing and Planning Bill — House of Lords, 2016-04-18
Topic: Housing
John Warren Shipley (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): My Lords, I shall first speak to Amendment 80ZB, although my name is not attached to it, in the names of the noble Baroness, Lady Lister of Burtersett, and the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of St Albans, as I think this is an extremely important issue. I cannot believe the Government intend that a woman who lost a tenancy as a consequence of domestic violence should not be able to have that renewed as a secure tenancy, and I hope very much that the Minister will be able to put our minds at rest on the matter On Amendment 79, to which my name is attached, when the Minister responds to the debate, I hope she will define for us again what the problem is that the Government are trying to solve because, for the life of me, I find it very difficult to understand. For one thing, there is existing legislation in the Localism Act, which we debated in your Lordships’ House only a few years ago, and I am not clear why the provisions in that Act are not sufficient in this case For me, this is about community cohesion. It is about enabling those who are in social rented accommodation to stay in their homes and build a sense of community in their area. I worry that, if the Government got their way with the Bill as it is currently worded, we would simply end up with a large number of short-term tenancies. I do not believe that five years is enough. I can understand that a local authority might want the flexibility to have a minimum of two years, but it seems to me that the amendments that we considered in Committee, and that we are now considering on Report, would help us to improve the Government’s recommendations in the Bill. I, for one, would prefer 10 years, with the right of the local authority, which exists anyway in the Bill, to renew a tenancy as a secure tenancy This whole proposal shows signs of being rushed. The problem that the Government are seeking to solve is ill-defined, if defined at all; it is all about encouraging more tenants to buy their own homes. That takes us right back to the purpose of the Bill and the 200,000 starter homes. The problem, as we have identified repeatedly in our consideration of the Bill, is that many tenants are not in a position to buy their own home, even with a 20% discount on the cost of a starter home. They will therefore need to rent There is nothing worse, surely, for neighbourhoods and communities than to end up with people in uncertainty, worry and stress, and with children in school not quite knowing whether they will have to move a long way away, where they may be unable to continue in the local school that they have come to know. In terms of people living near where they work, travel patterns are established when people have longer-term tenancies Longer-term tenancies enable people to have confidence about the area that they live in, and to feel that the house or flat that they live in is actually a home. We should use that word "home" much more than we do. We talk about tenancies, houses and flats and so on, when this is about people’s homes. It is about places where families live, where children are brought up and where people are based who can then secure employment This Bill should be an improvement on the Localism Act and the legislation that is already in place. As I understand it, the Government have indicated that they want this amendment on secure tenancies, because not enough tenants have moved into owner-occupation and not enough local authorities have been giving fixed-term tenancies to their tenants. In the end, this should be a matter for local authorities to address. I am very much looking forward to hearing what the noble Lord, Lord Kerslake, referred to—we are going to hear some good news, apparently, about secure tenancies. I very much hope that we do and that it will be satisfactory because, as things stand, this is a very bad proposal.