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Malthouse wants planning laws to stop social housing segregation
Housing minister Kit Malthouse has asked officials to “explore strengthening” planning guidance to prevent segregation of social housing residents.
Mr Malthouse revealed the move in answer to a written question by Labour MP Steve McCabe, who asked what the government was doing to prevent segregation on shared playgrounds.
Mr McCabe referred specifically to a development in Lambeth, south London, where The Guardian reported that children in social housing were being prevented from playing in the communal playground.
On the scheme, developer Henley Homes blocked social housing residents from using shared play spaces. Responding to the article, Henley said it had never been its intention to bar children from social housing from its play areas.
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In response, Mr Malthouse said: “The government has been clear that unfair stigmatisation of social residents will not be tolerated, whether that be through restrictions on playground use or otherwise.
“We are looking closely at how we encourage and support genuinely mixed homes and communities. I have asked officials to explore strengthening our existing planning guidance to emphasise the importance of integrated communities and help prevent this kind of thing from ever happening again.”
At the time the Lambeth scheme was reported on, housing secretary James Brokenshire branded the exclusion “outrageous”.
In August last year, the government released its Social Housing Green Paper, which was in part intended to combat stigma against social housing tenants.
In his answer, Mr Malthouse cited the green paper saying it will tackle stigma and that the government will publish its response “in due course”.
On the subject of stigma, the green paper said that the government planned “to strengthen guidance to encourage new affordable homes to be designed to the same high quality as other tenures and well integrated within developments”.
