Gavin Barwell, M.P. for Croydon Central, is to replace Brandon Lewis as the Minister for Housing and Planning at the Department of Communities and Local Government. He is also to be Minister for London.
Barwell became an M.P. in 2010 and has previously been a junior member of the government, including as Parliamentary Private Secretary for Greg Clark. Greg Clark has also moved on, to be replaced as Communities Secretary by Savid Javid.
There is not much information about Barwell's views on housing, and specifically empty homes. A 2014 Vision for Croydon document jointly published by the three Croydon Conservative MPs has a short section on Empty Homes which reads as follows.
Bring empty homes back into use
There are too many homes in Croydon sitting empty. Not only are they often a blight on their local neighbourhoods, they could be housing a family currently in overcrowded or otherwise unsuitable accommodation. We’d like to see the Council use its compulsory purchase powers to buy them and sell them on to local families. This offers a ray of hope that Barwell will address some of the inappropriate costs deter councils from purchasing long-term, anti-social empty homes - particularly the basic loss adjustment. In a statement on his website, Barwell has said Too many people are having to live in overcrowded or even unsafe conditions. Too many people don't have a permanent place to call home. Too many people are having to pay too much of their monthly earnings on their housing costs. And - as the Prime Minister said in her moving speech outside Downing Street on Wednesday night - too many people who want the independence of owning their own home currently can't afford to do so. Elsewhere, a rather caustic treatment of Barwell's appointment by Estate Agent Today summarises Barwell's voting record on housing issues, from an analysis in the Estates Gazette, as ...allegedly voting against reforms to the housebuilding industry to boost housing output, against measures to tackle land-banking, against councils retaining payments in respect of vacant high-value council homes, and against clearer information on letting agencies’ fees and the promotion of longer tenancies. Barwell's page at gov.uk provides some further details.
There are too many homes in Croydon sitting empty. Not only are they often a blight on their local neighbourhoods, they could be housing a family currently in overcrowded or otherwise unsuitable accommodation. We’d like to see the Council use its compulsory purchase powers to buy them and sell them on to local families. This offers a ray of hope that Barwell will address some of the inappropriate costs deter councils from purchasing long-term, anti-social empty homes - particularly the basic loss adjustment. In a statement on his website, Barwell has said Too many people are having to live in overcrowded or even unsafe conditions. Too many people don't have a permanent place to call home. Too many people are having to pay too much of their monthly earnings on their housing costs. And - as the Prime Minister said in her moving speech outside Downing Street on Wednesday night - too many people who want the independence of owning their own home currently can't afford to do so. Elsewhere, a rather caustic treatment of Barwell's appointment by Estate Agent Today summarises Barwell's voting record on housing issues, from an analysis in the Estates Gazette, as ...allegedly voting against reforms to the housebuilding industry to boost housing output, against measures to tackle land-banking, against councils retaining payments in respect of vacant high-value council homes, and against clearer information on letting agencies’ fees and the promotion of longer tenancies. Barwell's page at gov.uk provides some further details.