Housing and Regeneration Bill

I shall speak briefly because the noble Lord, Lord Best, and the noble Baroness, Lady Dean, have covered the issues I wanted to cover. I shall make one fundamental point to the noble Lord, Lord Filkin, which was made at Second Reading. It is that we emphasise voice and choice in the Bill, but voice is at the heart of what we need to do. All the amendments are to do with information and knowing what tenants want, and one amendment touches on constraints such as the structural impediments. That is absolutely right, because until we have that information, the providers of housing cannot do anything about it. As someone who is associated with one, I know how difficult it is sometimes to ascertain what the tenants want. It is sometimes very difficult even to get tenants on to your boards in tenant management committees because of vocal people with certain agendas that may not necessarily reflect the agendas of others. However, that is not so pertinent to the issue. Choice is also key; I would not want to give the Committee the impression that it was not. However, the point ultimately is that there is only so much choice because of the very nature of social and affordable housing. It is not the kind of choice that would be available out there in the market. The noble Lord, Lord Filkin, said at one point that he wanted market choice that was operated by consumers, but you cannot have market choice that is operated by consumers in this sector. It is not possible. I am also involved in Hyde Plus, the Hyde Group’s think tank—we have actually bothered to set up a think tank—which looks at broader community issues. It looks not only at the people who live in our houses but at the people who live in that entire community, their economic prospects and whether transport is an impediment and crime an issue. We produce reports, which I know are well regarded, which we discuss in the broader G15. Leading-edge housing associations are cognisant of the importance not only of giving people somewhere to live but of helping them to make something of where they live and to contribute to their lives. This set of amendments would not achieve that. We should concentrate less on false choices and more on empowerment, because that is sorely needed in this sector.