My Lords, I add my voice to Amendments 332, 333 and 341 from the noble and learned Lord, Lord Etherton, concerning affordable housing, which lies at the root of the Government’s responsibility to their citizens. As we have just heard, it is the duty of government to provide safety and security to its citizens and a roof over their heads. That responsibility includes, at the very top of the list, the needs of the homeless. It is important to remind ourselves that the definition of homeless here includes many of the most vulnerable in our population. They are citizens too, but current circumstances may cause them to question that.
Successive Governments have repeatedly failed to replace council houses sold into the private sector, and this reducing inventory of low-cost housing, however defined, continues against a background of increasing homelessness and need. The Government must somehow finance more affordable housing. These amendments, taken together, will assist in that objective.
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As we have heard, Amendment 332 is imperative in that a strategic housing market assessment must be available to planning authorities and to the higher authorities that sit above them. It must also be regularly updated. Amendment 333 links the housing need assessment to the IL and, when combined with other available funding, aims to meet the assessed need.
On day 13 of Committee, we continue to battle our way through the more than 500 amendments, many of which seek a share of the infrastructure levy. They are all worthy claims. I was heartened to hear the Minister say, I think in responding to Amendment 290, that the IL will be prioritised towards local infrastructure. However, local infrastructure is a wide canvas, and we have just heard from the noble and learned Lord that housing was at number seven—way down the list of priorities.
We must not forget that these three amendments lie at the heart of the Government’s responsibilities to their citizens: a place to live in relative safety. This is a crisis, and it is in the Government’s gift to prioritise it in the Bill by adopting Amendment 341. I ask the Minister to agree to these amendments to prioritise affordable housing as a fast track to solving the crisis.