Tag: housing

Archbishop of York speaks in debate on housing strategy and report from the Archbishops Commission on Housing

The Archbishop of York took part in a debate on housing strategy and the Archbishops’ Commission report on Housing, Church, and Community on 24th March 2021, stressing the need for a reset on how housing is approached:

The Lord Archbishop of York [V]: My Lords, it is always a great pleasure to follow the noble Lord, Lord Best, whose work and witness in housing has been such an inspiration to many of us. I pay particular tribute to the work that he has done as a Church Commissioner in recent years. It is an honour to speak in this debate and support my dear brother, the most reverend Primate the Archbishop of Canterbury, whose visionary leadership in this and other issues of social policy draws people of faith and good will together in developing a narrative of hope. I am also grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Shipley, for his reference, as this is the first speech I have made since returning to the House of Lords as the 98th Archbishop of York.

We need to reset our compass. As we emerge from the horrors and sorrows of Covid, we have all become much more aware of our interdependence. Just as Covid cannot be dealt with anywhere until it is dealt with everywhere, so it is with other challenges facing our common life. When we cheered the NHS last summer, we were also cheering a set of ideas that are precious to our national life—namely, that we belong to each other. There are some things, like health, that are so basic that we cherish the fact that they are available to everyone at the point of need and regardless of one’s ability to pay. Should not this principle apply to other things as well, such as food on everyone’s table and a roof over everyone’s head?

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Archbishop of Canterbury holds debate on Coming Home Report on Housing, Church, and Community

The Archbishop of Canterbury led a debate on the report Coming Home by the Archbishops’ Commission on Housing, Church, and Community on 24th March 2021:

The Lord Archbishop of Canterbury: That the Grand Committee takes note of the report Coming Home by the Archbishops’ Commission on Housing, Church and Community, and the case for setting out a long-term housing strategy.

My Lords, I am very grateful to the usual channels for permitting this debate and to all noble Lords who are taking part. I express my sadness at the beginning at the sudden death of Lord Greaves, whose voice in this area, as in so many others, especially those involving the day-to-day concerns of people, will be deeply missed.

The Archbishop’s annual debate is normally held every year, just before Christmas—although I am not sure that it counts as a Christmas present. Due to the pandemic and other issues, it has not happened for a couple of years. You may have thought you were spared but that is not so, for, like Jairus’s daughter, the debate is not dead but was only sleeping. And when better to resurrect it than just before Easter?

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Bishop of London asks about using Church land to build affordable housing

The Bishop of London received the following written answer on 24th April 2021:

The Lord Bishop of London asked Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of (1) the report by the Commission of the Archbishops of Canterbury and York on Housing, Church and Community Coming Home: Tackling the housing crisis together, published on 21 February, and (2) proposals to use church-owned land to build affordable housing developments; and what plans they have (a) to review existing charity law, (b) to extend the provisions of the Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012, and (c) to amend other relevant legislation, to allow for land to be used for charitable purposes without a requirement for financial gain.

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Bishop of St Albans asks about housing for older and disabled people

The Bishop of St Albans received the following written answer on 24th March 2021:

The Lord Bishop of St Albans asked Her Majesty’s Government how they plan to meet the housing needs of (1) older, and (2) disabled, people.

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Bishop of St Albans asks about accessible housing

The Bishop of St Albans received the following written answer on 22nd March 2025:

The Lord Bishop of St Albans asked Her Majesty’s Government when they intend to publish a summary of responses to their Raising accessibility standards for new homes consultation, which closed on 1 December 2020.

Lord Greenhalgh (Con, MHCLG): The Government response to the consultation on raising accessibility standards for new homes will be published later this year and it will include a summary of responses.

Hansard

Bishop of London asks about removal of unsafe cladding from buildings

The Bishop of London received the following written answer on 22nd March 2021:

The Lord Bishop of London asked Her Majesty’s Government what steps they will take to ensure that leaseholders are not required to pay for the removal of unsafe cladding from residential blocks before the Building Safety Bill 2019–2021 becomes law.

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Bishop of St Albans asks about re-banding council tax

The Bishop of St Albans received the following written answer on 24th February 2021:

The Lord Bishop of St Albans asked Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of whether current council tax bands in England adequately reflect changes to property prices since 1991.

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Archbishop of Canterbury asks about criteria for defining affordable housing

On 26th January 2021, the Archbishop of Canterbury asked a question on the criteria used by the government to define affordable housing, in advance of a Church of England report on housing and communities:

The Lord Archbishop of Canterbury: My Lords, I declare non-financial interests in various Church lands through numerous charities of which I am a member. The Church will be publishing a housing, church and communities report in February. Can the Minister tell us what criteria Her Majesty’s Government use to define affordable housing? Is it genuinely affordable in the sense that most people would use the word?

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Bishop of St Albans raises issue of housing in debate on intergenerational unfairness

The Bishop of St Albans took part in a debate on a report from the Select Committee on Intergenerational Unfairness on 25th January 2021, focusing on access to and provision of housing:

The Lord Bishop of St Albans [V]: My Lords, the decrease in the rates of home ownership for the younger generation is a major issue and not one of their own making. As this excellent report demonstrates, it is an important factor in addressing issues of intergenerational fairness. For many years, there has been a failure to supply housing adequately—an issue exacerbated by a cycle of stagnation fuelled by low market absorption rates and stalled developments.

The Letwin report suggests that one of the most important reasons for this is that developers will build new homes only at a rate that the market can absorb and that, by diversifying housing products, rates of absorption will increase. However, when I put down Written Questions to Her Majesty’s Government on this topic, never once has it been acknowledged that it might be in the interest of developers to land bank, as increased supply is likely to reduce house prices. While I believe that this has contributed to the lack of supply, I agree that low absorption remains a real issue. However, I do not think that diversification alone will solve it.

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Bishop of St Albans asks about wages and house prices

On 3rd December 2020 the Bishop of St Albans received a written answer to a question on the effect of quantative easing on wages and house prices:

The Lord Bishop of St Albans: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the effects of quantitative easing on the increase in house prices compared to increases in wages. [HL10488]

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