Asked by: Abena Oppong-Asare (Labour - Erith and Thamesmead)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what support has been given to (a) Bexley Borough Council and (b) Greenwich Borough Council to help rough sleepers (i) during and (ii) after the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
In 2020/21, we are providing over £700 million to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping across England.
Greenwich have been allocated £951,740 through?rough sleeping?programmes?in 2020/21. This includes Rough Sleeping Initiative funding to support the establishment or enhancement of coordinated local services for rough sleepers or those at risk of sleeping rough, £413,207 Next Steps Accommodation Programme funding to prevent as many as possible of those brought in during the Covid-19 pandemic returning to the streets and Cold Weather Funding: giving local areas the tools they need to protect people from cold weather and the risks posed by Covid-19.
Bexley have been allocated £240,000 through?rough sleeping?programmes?in 2020/21. Bexley have been allocated £190,000 in funding through the Next Steps Accommodation Programme and Cold Weather Funding.
Both authorities are also being closely supported by our MHCLG?Rough Sleeping Initiative advisers and Homelessness Advice and Support Team. These expert advisers are pro-actively working with local areas and will continue to support these authorities with the implementation of the Homelessness Reduction Act and the Rough Sleeping?Initiative.
Both authorities produced delivery plans setting out how they will be supporting rough sleepers. Delivery plans were used in the allocation of Next Steps Accommodation Programme funding.
Asked by: Abena Oppong-Asare (Labour - Erith and Thamesmead)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether his Department has issued guidance to local authorities on banning the eviction of people living in local authority housing during the November 2020 covid-19 lockdown.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
On 16 November we changed the law in England to ensure bailiffs do not enforce evictions over this period of national restrictions or the Christmas period. This means that no eviction notices may be served until 11 January and, given the 14 day notice period required, no evictions are expected until 25 January at the earliest. The only exceptions to this are for the most serious cases, such as anti-social behaviour and perpetrators of domestic abuse in social housing.
Guidance for landlords, including local authority landlords, is published at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-and-renting-guidance-for-landlords-tenants-and-local-authorities.
Guidance for social landlords on understanding the possession action process is published at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/understanding-the-possession-action-process-guidance-for-landlords-and-tenants.
We will aim to provide further guidance regarding the operation of the exemptions shortly.
Asked by: Abena Oppong-Asare (Labour - Erith and Thamesmead)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what plans he has to work with private student accommodation providers to offer students affected by the covid-19 lockdown measures an early release from their accommodation contract.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The Department is actively engaging with stakeholders across the student accommodation sector, including private student accommodation providers, to understand the challenges posed by the current crisis and to establish the most effective means of supporting the whole of the sector.
The negotiation of early releases from contracts is a matter between the parties concerned. The Government encourages student accommodation providers, landlords, letting agencies and tenants to act flexibly and adopt a common-sense approach to issues that may arise in the current circumstances.
Asked by: Abena Oppong-Asare (Labour - Erith and Thamesmead)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, when the Government plans to bring forward legislation that holds building owners to account on funding the replacement of unsafe ACM cladding on high-rise private residential properties.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
It is the Government’s priority to ensure that residents are safe. We are clear that unsafe ACM cladding must be replaced swiftly. Where insufficient progress is being made, building owners can expect further action to be taken – including enforcement. In the Queen’s Speech, the Government announced legislation which will put beyond doubt that the Fire Safety Order applies to external walls (including cladding) and individual flat entrance doors in multi-occupied residential buildings. This will affirm Fire and Rescue Services’ enforcement role for these buildings.
Where the government has funded the removal and replacement of unsafe ACM cladding, a condition of funding is that applicants are expected to take all reasonable steps to recover the cost of replacing unsafe ACM cladding from those responsible. This will be repaid to Government once recouped.