Section: Central Government
Queen's Speech offers little cheer for social housing
Posted 19.12.19
GOV.UK: Further reading
The Queen's Speech has offered little to cheer the social housing sectors, with no direct mention included.
Specific commitments regarding housing included in the speech were confined to:
- New measures will be brought forward to protect tenants and to improve building safety.
- My Government will take steps to support home ownership, including by making homes available at a discount for local first-time buyers.
Even more striking is the total lack of mention of actions aimed at reducing homelessness.
It is worth reflecting on the Conservative Party manifesto, which included somewhat brief commitment to social housing and tackling homelessness:
-
Renewing the Affordable Homes Programme, in order to support the delivery of hundreds of thousands of affordable homes - highlighted in the manifesto as key to efforts to prevent people from falling into homelessness.
- Fully enforcing the Homelessness Reduction Act.
Ending the blight of rough sleeping by the end of the next Parliament by expanding successful pilots and programmes, such as the Rough Sleeping Initiative and Housing First.
- Working to bring together local services to meet the health and housing needs of people sleeping on the streets.
The brief manifesto pledges appear to offer more than the actual proposals in the Queen's Speech. Hopefully, there is more to come in the near future!
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