Caroline Lucas, the leader of the Green Party, has today announced her opposition to proposals which would link payment of housing benefit to energy efficiency standards in rented homes (1).
Speaking about the plans, Caroline said: "Energy efficiency in the domestic sector is vital in the fight against climate change and fuel poverty. However, seeking to withhold Housing Benefit payments (2) to those who live in energy inefficient housing will do little to drive improvement, and a lot to hurt tenants who are in receipt of benefits."
Caroline Lucas, who is tipped by bookmakers and most opinion polls to win the Brighton Pavilion seat in the coming general election, continued: "Forty-four per cent of our carbon footprint comes from domestic properties. This is a particular problem in Brighton and Hove where twenty-one per cent of residents live in the private rented sector. The solution to this is not for the Government to endanger the tenancies of our most vulnerable citizens, but instead to follow the Green Party's policy proposal of making a long-term investment commitment of £4 billion a year into energy efficiency measures until 2025. Alongside tough regulation of private landlords, this would transform our country's homes, while creating 80,000 jobs in the process."
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1. The full consultation can be found here: www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/hb-consultation.pdf
The specific proposal reads: "We would like to consider whether the payment of Housing Benefit should be made conditional on housing meeting certain defined standards in terms of quality, energy efficiency and carbon footprint. Housing Benefit would not be payable on properties which fell below certain standards."
2. Housing Benefit statistics can be found here: research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd1/hb_ctb/hbctb_arc.asp