Child Poverty Bill

My Lords, perhaps I should declare an interest—I am a member of a housing association. I support any amendment that considers housing and at the same time tries to tackle child poverty. In my previous constituency, there were many non-traditional houses. They were built in good faith. Some of them were multi-storey dwellings, some were maisonettes. Often, there was severe dampness, so income had to go to not only transport but heating, and there was terrible fuel poverty in some of those houses. I recall going to a constituent’s house where there was a built-in wardrobe. When the lady took out the clothing that was hung up in the wardrobe it was green with mould. In the west of Scotland they used to pray for a good summer. For a good summer in the west of Scotland you need a lot of prayers, believe me. Talking about child poverty, there was a slogan under Prime Minister Blair’s Government, "education, education, education". I always used to say, "housing, housing, housing", because how can a young child who is bright at school go home and do their homework with dampness coming down the walls? Rents, not only in London or in the rural areas, but in the larger cities throughout the United Kingdom and indeed the rural areas of the highlands, can be very expensive. The poorer a person is the more they will spend on rent—or a mortgage, for that matter. It is not easy for a family to up sticks and move because often they are in a house that is difficult to live in because it is the best that the local authority can offer. All credit must go to the housing associations throughout the country, particularly the ones I know. In houses where there was damp, such as I have described, the housing associations took over and, with the help of central Government, who must get credit as well, they were able to put central heating into houses which were non-traditional and give people decent, warm homes. It makes a significant difference for the whole family. I know what the noble Baroness, Lady Hollis, is saying—do we make this another target, another thing on the wish list? What is the point of having a child poverty Bill if we do not tackle poverty? If we are going to tackle poverty we must make sure that we look at the home that people are living in. That is why we have municipal housing. The reason local authorities started municipal housing all those years ago was because people were living in terrible slums. It had a severe effect on them. Even though they had their job in the mills or the factories, the fact that they were going back to homes that were overcrowded and were not getting decent sunlight and where the children all had to sleep in the same bed led to bad health. If we do not tackle the housing situation in terms of looking at the struggle people have to keep a roof over their heads there is no point in having a child poverty Bill.