In September 2012 Lewis, was appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Communities and Local Government, working under Eric Pickles. In July 2014, Lewis was promoted to Minister of State for Housing and Planning, when the Prime Minister brought the portfolios of Housing and Planning together for the first time under his premiership. He claimed that there had been a "dramatic swing" in public opinion - with almost half of people now in favour of new housing in their area. This related to the new National Planning Policy Framework, the primary framework for town planning in the country, which some argued made it substantially easier for developers to build on greenfield land.