Reporting Back: Housing Update

This month the National House Building Council published new figures showing the amount of new housing starts in Norwich North. I wanted to take this opportunity to write about the work that has been going on in this area as delivering the housing that families in Norwich needs is one of my top commitments.

 

The National House Building Council’s updated statistics shows that since 2016- 741 new homes have been registered in Norwich North which is well above the UK constituency average of 597 over the same period.

 

Throughout my time as an MP, in my work in Parliament I have supported action to build more homes nationwide, and around Norwich to ensure Norwich families have the homes they need. Help to Buy has supported over 600 families in Norwich and I continue to support measures extending the Right to Buy to housing association tenants.

 

This week the Government has opened two funds to overcome barriers to housebuilding, helping developers to build the homes that people need and get more people on the housing ladder. These two funds, the Land Assembly Fund, and the Small Sites Fund will help release land to deliver 300,000 new homes a year by the mid-2020s.

 

The £1.3 billion Land Assembly Fund will be used to acquire land needing work and get it ready for development, making it less risky for developers to invest in and start building

 

The £630 million Small Sites Fund will be available to public landowners or local authorities that are struggling to start building on land in their area, to speed up getting the right infrastructure in place to support home building on stalled small sites, providing the homes their communities need.

 

You can find more details about these two funds at the below web address.

 

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-investment-to-overcome-barriers-to-building

 

Back in August, I wrote about the Government’s Green Paper, which aims to set out a new deal for social housing residents and will start a national discussion to collect views on how to improve social housing to ensure everyone has a safe, secure and affordable place to call their own.

 

The Communities Secretary has outlined the five core themes within the Green Paper which will drive improvements. These themes include;

Tackling stigma and celebrating thriving communities;

Expanding supply and supporting home ownership;

Effective resolution of complaints;

Empowering residents and strengthening the regulator;

Ensuring homes are safe and decent.

 

Alongside the launch of this Green Paper, the Government is consulting on the intention to carry out a review into the regulation of social housing to ensure that it remains fit for purpose. This reflects positive changes in the sector and drives a focus on delivering a good service for residents. 

 

I am pleased that more homes are being built and there is more work in the pipeline. I will continue my work in Parliament to back these measures and deliver on the things that are important for constituents, to ensure everyone in Norwich has a safe, decent place to live irrespective of if they are housing tenants or homeowners.