Housing emergency

That this House notes with concern that the Government is providing insufficient grant for building council housing, that the current policy encourages the building of homes which charge so-called affordable rent, in reality unaffordable for many, encourages the conversion of social rent homes to affordable rent, leading to tenants in similar properties paying up to double the rent of homes charged social rent; further notes that as a result of Right to Buy council housing stock continues to decline with 200,000, less than in 2010 in England alone; notes that housing revenue accounts have insufficient income as a result of the 2012 debt settlement and government policies since then; this House, therefore, calls on the government to provide grant only for building social rent homes; notes that it agrees with Shelter's and the Local Government Association's call for funding a large scale social housing building programme; notes that grant at least of £10 billion a year is required to fund 100,000 social rent council homes a year; recognises the need to stop the loss of stock by ending Right to Buy; notes that the Government reopens the 2012 debt settlement which imposed bogus debt on housing revenue accounts; and that without these measures there is no chance of resolving the housing emergency we face.