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The £40bn Decent Homes Programme has had a positive effect on the living conditions of most social housing tenants, this report finds, but the Government has failed to invest enough resources in the parallel programme to improve homes occupied by vulnerable people in the private sector. The Government must also clarify future funding: it is still unclear how the elimination of the remaining backlog of disrepair (around 3 per cent of social homes) will be funded; and how much will be available to maintain standards in the future. The Government must prevent another backlog of disrepair from building up after the current programme comes to an end in 2010. Carbon emissions reduction targets mean that the entire UK housing stock must be made more energy efficient. The decent homes standard has an important part to play and should be updated to enable this. The use of arm's-length management organisations (ALMOs) to manage council housing has led to improved standards and better planning, though not all councils were able to follow this model. The decent homes standard remains a low benchmark, however. The target for decency applied to private housing should be retained and strengthened by creating a National Indicator for private sector accommodation. A clear long term target should be set at a national level to bring all private sector homes (not just those occupied by vulnerable people) up to the decent homes standard.

Since the Committee's previous report on this subject (HC 101, 3rd report of session 2008-09, ISBN 9780215526526), the 2009 Budget has made substantial provision for the housing industry. The Committee supports the measures the Government took in the Budget, and also those it has announced since, as part of the Building Britain's Future package. However, evidence suggests that the measures have not so far been enough to stimulate house building and housing market activity in the economic downturn. The previous steady progress towards achieving the targets has been dramatically reversed, though indications seem to be that the Government has done enough to arrest the fall-off in housebuilding, at least in the short term. The report identifies two imperatives for Government action. First, the Government must avoid storing up problems in the future by taking all steps possible to retain capacity in the housebuilding sector. Secondly, steps must be taken to ensure that housebuilders can sell the homes they build. The flow of mortgage finance is crucial and it is evident that the Treasury Asset-backed Guarantee Scheme is not providing the necessary impetus.

On 16 December 2014 the Committee held a pre-appointment hearing with the Government's preferred canditate for the post of Housing Ombudsman, Denise Fowler. On the basis of the evidence provided at this hearing, the Committee concluded that she is a very suitable candidate for the post. In the Commitee view, however, to be independent of central government she cannot remain a civil servant and she should resign form the Civil Service before taking up the post. The Housing Ombudsman administers the Housing Ombudsman Scheme. The purpose of the Scheme is for tenants and other individuals to have complaints about members investigated by a Housing Ombudsman. The Scheme states that the role of the Ombudsman is to resolve disputes involving members of the Scheme, including making awards of compensation or other remedies when appropriate, as well as to support effective landlord-tenent dispute resolution by others.

Response to HC 164-I, session 2008-09 (ISBN 9780215530660)

The Government's first response (Cm. 7126, ISBN 97801017712620) to the Committee's report on coastal towns (2nd report session 2006-07, HCP 351, ISBN 9780215032843) was not well-received by the Committee, other members of Parliament and organisations such as the British Resorts and Destinations Association. It was felt that the response failed to recognise the necessity for specific measures to support coastal communities. The Committee requested a more considered response from the new Secretary of State. The further response is published as appendix 3. The Government now accepts a number of the Committee's recommendations, especially the need for further research on the challenges facing these communities, and the disproportionately high rise in the number of people claiming sickness and disability benefit. The Committee welcomes the Government's intention to establish a cross-departmental working group on issues affecting coastal towns and its commitment to establish a coastal areas network supported by Government and the regional development agencies.