Select committee: Built Environment Committee
Conclusion 53
1st Report - Meeting housing demand
Published 10 Jan 2022
Built Environment Committee Meeting the UK’s housing demand All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
Toby Lloyd, Chair of the No Place Left Behind Commission and an Independent Housing Policy Consultant, said “The private rented sector is by far the most expensive, by far the lowest quality and by far the least popular. It is absolutely the worst possible tenure for almost everybody in it.” He added “Most people who are private renting would much rather be in something cheaper and higher quality. Who would not be? That means either social renting or owner occupation. It is absolutely the tenure of last resort.” 98 As renters age, there is also a concern that they will struggle to afford expensive private rents when their incomes drop at retirement and rents continue to rise. 99 Table 3: Average monthly housing costs by region 100 Region Average monthly cost of owning (Dec 2020) Average monthly cost of renting (Dec 2020) % difference Annual difference London £1,408 £1,791 -21% £4,608 South East £1,018 £1,232 -17% £2,580 East Anglia £739 £907 -19% £2,016 South West £1,018 £1,232 -17% £1,836 North West £576 £723 -20% £1,764 West Midlands £638 £756 -16% £1,416 North East £484 £599 -19% £1,380 East Midlands £632 £706 -11% £900 Yorkshire & the Humber £557 £628 -11% £864 Northern Ireland £445 £490 -9% £540 Wales £546 £665 -18% £1,428 Scotland £527 £683 -23% £1,872 Source: Which? Is it cheaper to own or rent a home? (10 April 2021): https://www.which.co.uk/news/2021/04/ is-it-cheaper-to-own-or-rent-a-home/ [accessed 16 December 2021]
From: Built Environment Committee, 1st Report - Meeting housing demand, 10 January 2022
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 28 March 2022 (deadline 10 March 2022).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The Government welcomes the Committee's report and says it is "taking action on a number of the issues identified", agreeing with some recommendations while disagreeing with others, including on home ownership schemes and the Apprenticeship Levy.
- It "disagrees with the report's assessment that homeownership schemes do not provide good value for money", citing independent evaluations and its own evaluation of Help to Buy.
- On older people's housing, it is launching a new taskforce "this year", chaired by the Minister for Housing, to look at better choice, quality and security of housing.
- It does "not intend to set out a proportion" of Affordable Homes Programme funding for social housing, though "around half" of the affordable homes are to be for social and affordable rent.
- On the Apprenticeship Levy it says it has "no plans to review" it. On planning fees it is "exploring options" to increase them, and on local plans it will make an announcement "in due course".