Contribution
My Lords, I rise to support Amendment 46, and I start by thanking the noble Lord, Lord Best, and the noble Baroness, Lady Thornhill, for their support.
As I explained at Second Reading and as we have heard already today, the shortage of affordable housing in rural areas has had, and continues to have, long-term social and economic consequences for our rural communities. It has led to school, shop and pub closures and reductions in transport and other services, quite apart from the effect on the viability of local businesses. Traditional social networks have also collapsed, and recent evidence now suggests—as the noble Lord, Lord Best, said—that the lack of supply caused by low levels of new provision of affordable housing to rent is being exacerbated by registered providers disposing of their rural stock. Very often, this rural stock is old and in need of expensive modernising, particularly the need to achieve energy efficiency and modern EPC targets. Furthermore, to make matters worse, they are often high market value rural homes, whose sale receipts could possibly help pay for larger housing projects in more accessible locations that offer economies of scale without the extra costs and complexities of small rural schemes.
The business case for these disposal decisions is irrefutable, but the evidence suggests that these decisions are not recognising the important role that an affordable home plays in a rural community. The evidence shows that there has been a significant increase in rural disposals over the last five years, particularly by the larger registered providers. Once sold, it is difficult to replace these homes in the affected rural community, as opportunities for new affordable developments are scarce, particularly in high-value landscapes or areas affected by ecological constraints or in coastal areas.
There is a need for both our amendment and the Government’s existing Clause 11. The Bill’s current amendment to the Housing and Regeneration Act simply requires registered providers to notify local authorities of a disposal, but with very short notice, as has been noted. It would not prevent such disposals, nor open the opportunity for the registered provider and the local authority to explore other options that would avoid the disposals in rural communities, where these may be the last social housing in a rural area.
My amendment would give the rural local authority early visibility of stock conditions, asset plans and disposal strategies and would enable local authorities to plan for likely losses as well as new supply. It would open opportunities to consider purchase, retrofit, renovation, rural regeneration or other interventions before homes and land are lost permanently. Could local authority funding be available to fund replacements in the communities concerned? Could local authority funding help modernise the property or properties, making a sale unnecessary? Perhaps a package of rural sales and rebuilds could attract Homes England regeneration funding. Or, given the large plots of some of these homes, could everyone get together to redevelop the site to provide more homes?
In effect, this would be a pre-emptive stage before any decision to sell is taken. I hope that this kind of information sharing would also lead to a better partnership working between registered providers, local authorities and community stakeholders. However, I should say that to find the right solutions takes time—hence the need in our amendment for a 12-month notice.
As it stands, the current amendment in Clause 11 is more suited to non-rural areas, where there is more social housing and there are more opportunities for replacement. A disposal in these locations would not be as catastrophic as losing the last affordable home in a village or undermine the local authority’s strategy priority to support rural affordable housing delivery and sustainable communities. The notification of a proposed sale will still be important, giving the local authority some time to consider repurchase or using resources to bring a home up to standard. However, I am very concerned that four weeks is a totally inadequate period for local authorities to master the necessary resources for these actions; even 12 weeks would be pushing it. In rural areas, where a long-term strategic approach is necessary, I believe that constant communication and at least 12 months’ notice of an intention to sell will be the least amount of notice necessary.