Asked by: Lord Pendry (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what are the top 20 per cent most deprived areas in the country, as determined by the indices of multiple deprivation.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
The most recent iteration of the English Indices of Deprivation was published in September 2019 and all resources are available online here - https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/english-indices-of-deprivation-2019
File 1 provides relative ranks and deciles for all small areas or neighbourhoods across England for the combined Indices of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) measure. File 10 provides relative ranks for Local Authority districts as at time of publication and the Frequently Asked Questions document provides guidance on how to produce decile rankings as required.
Asked by: Lord Pendry (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the successful re-housing of homeless individuals and families during the pandemic, what steps they will take to support homeless individuals and families after the pandemic.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
We have taken unprecedented steps to protect rough sleepers during the pandemic. This work has not stopped, and by the end of January, we had supported over 37,000 people with over 11,000 in emergency accommodation and over 26,000 already moved on into longer-term accommodation.
To make sure rough sleepers don’t return to the streets, we are funding 6,000 long-term move-on homes for rough sleepers by the end of parliament, with the majority becoming available this year.
The Government has committed over £750 million to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping this year alone, continuing the Government’s work to meet our commitment to end rough sleeping and fully enforce the Homelessness Reduction Act.
Asked by: Lord Pendry (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to allocate extra resources for the safe accommodation of victims of domestic abuse.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
My Department’s priority remains for refuges to remain open so that victims of domestic abuse and their children can access support and safe accommodation when they need it.
In May, we launched a £10 million Emergency Support Fund for charities providing safe accommodation for victims of domestic abuse. Funding has been allocated to 147 successful charity bids, supporting 166 organisations providing 1890 bed spaces. This funding is ensuring that more victims can access life-saving support during the pandemic.
Asked by: Lord Pendry (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Greenhalgh on 14 July (HL6316), whether they will now answer the question put, namely, which local authorities have not responded to their request for information about rough sleepers and those in need of emergency accommodation to inform their decisions about additional funding during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) surveyed all local authorities about accommodation support provided to rough sleepers in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
All local authorities have responded to our request for information about rough sleepers and those in need of emergency accommodation.
Asked by: Lord Pendry (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government which local authorities have not responded to their request for information about rough sleepers and those in need of emergency accommodation to inform their decisions about additional funding during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
Nearly 15,000 vulnerable people have been housed in emergency accommodation, including hotels, since the start of the COVID-19 lockdown period. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) surveyed all local authorities about accommodation support provided to rough sleepers in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Asked by: Lord Pendry (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many people were sleeping rough in England and Wales (1) between November and December 2019, (2) in January 2020, (3) in February 2020, and (4) in March 2020.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
MHCLG’s latest official annual Rough Sleeping Snapshot Statistics published on 27 February 2020 provides information about the estimated number of people sleeping rough across all local authorities in England on a single night between 1 October and 31 November 2019. These statistics provide a way of estimating the number of people sleeping rough across England on a single night and of assessing change over time. There were 4,266 people estimated to be sleeping rough on a single night in Autumn 2019 in England. For more information please see the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/rough-sleeping-snapshot-in-england-autumn-2019/rough-sleeping-snapshot-in-england-autumn-2019
The devolved administrations publish their own statistics on homelessness which contain information on rough sleeping. The Welsh Government publish a?national annual rough sleeping monitoring exercise, which includes a two week information gathering exercise followed by a one night snapshot count. The figures are not directly comparable between countries as they have a different methodology, coverage and are carried out at different time periods. For more information please see the following link: https://gov.wales/national-rough-sleeper-count
We are providing £3.2 million in targeted funding to help support individuals who are sleeping rough off the streets, and an additional £3.2 billion to local authorities as part of the wider government response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Asked by: Lord Pendry (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support homeless people and ensure that they have permanent accommodation during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
Over 90% of those on the streets and in communal night shelters known to local authorities at the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis have now been made offers of safe accommodation – ensuring some of the most vulnerable in society are protected from the pandemic.
This response is backed by £3.2 billion of additional funding for local authorities to enable them to respond to COVID-19 pressures across the services they deliver, including stepping up support for the adult social care workforce and for services helping the most vulnerable, including homeless people. This is in addition to £3.2 million in targeted funding to ensure that we minimise the risk to those currently unable to self-isolate.
We have also introduced a package of measures to protect renters affected by coronavirus. With these in force, landlords must give all renters 3 months’ notice if they intend to seek possession.
The Chancellor has also announced that for 2020/21, we will increase the Local Housing Allowance rates for Universal Credit and Housing Benefit claimants so that they are set at the 30th percentile of market rents. This will mean that many people renting in the Private Rented Sector will see an increase in their housing support from April 2020, providing extra security during these uncertain times.
The Government has made clear that no one should be without a roof over their head, and this work further demonstrates our commitment to assist the most vulnerable in society.
Asked by: Lord Pendry (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the merits of ending the practice of converting homes for social rent into “affordable” rented housing, in order to tackle (1) affordability issues in the housing market, and (2) homelessness.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
A mix of different tenures is vital to meet the needs of a wide range of people, and allow the sector to build the right homes in the right places. Alongside affordable home ownership to help those struggling to purchase their first home, our expanded programme now offers two rental products. Affordable Rent was introduced to maximise taxpayers’ money. It allows us to build more homes for every pound of Government investment - so more people in housing need can have access to a good quality home at a sub-market rent. Social rent will meet the needs of struggling families and those most at risk of homelessness in areas of the country where affordability is most pressured.
Asked by: Lord Pendry (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to deliver 90,000 homes for social rent each year in order to assist with (1) the backlog of provision of affordable housing, and (2) homelessness, as part of their forthcoming Comprehensive Spending Review.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
We have already announced an additional £2 billion of long term funding certainty for housing associations. This extra funding will deliver more affordable homes and stimulate the sector’s wider building ambitions, through strategic partnerships
Our ten year funding commitment through strategic partnerships marks the first time any government has invested such long-term funding in new homes through housing associations
We will seek to build on the progress that has been made on building new social homes as we approach this year’s Spending Review.
Asked by: Lord Pendry (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the New Civic Housebuilding model, developed by Shelter, in order to address the supply of affordable housing in Britain today.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
The Government welcomes the report from Shelter as a helpful contribution to the housing debate. The Government agrees with the assertion that the current business model for delivering homes cannot address the housing shortage alone.
That is why we are determined to diversify the housing market, with the White Paper setting out measures to support smaller and medium sized builders, boost productivity and innovation by encouraging modern methods of construction, and attract investors into the development of homes for rent as well as for sale.