Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many people were recorded as homeless in each region in each of the last five years.
Answered by Marcus Jones
The number of households accepted as being owed a main homelessness duty in each region of England in the last five financial years is shown in the atttached table.
Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of policies to tackle poverty in urban areas.
Answered by Lord Wharton of Yarm
As a result of the Government's strong management, the British economy is growing faster than any other major advanced economy. Our businesses have created two million more jobs and living standards are rising. We are committed to supporting more people into work by making work pay - the Child Poverty Transitions report (June 2015) found almost three-quarters (74 per cent) of poor workless families who found work escaped poverty.
The National Living Wage will give over 2.7 million people currently on the minimum wage a pay rise of over £5,000 a year. Along with the increase in the personal allowance to £12,500 by the end of the Parliament, the National Living Wage will make work pay and improve people’s living standards
Through Devolution Deals and other programmes we are giving local areas increased flexibilities and powers to maximise their local economic growth to raise the opportunities for companies to grown and individuals to prosper.
Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what support his Department provides to local charitable organisations that deal with homelessness.
Answered by Kris Hopkins
We have invested more than £500 million in local authority and voluntary sevices to tackle homelessness and support vulnerable people. Our investment, backed by one of the strongest safety legislative nets in the world, ensures that no family should ever be without a roof over their heads.
Our work with homelessness voluntary sector organisations includes:
- The £20 million Homelessness Transition Fund, supporting 175 voluntary sector projects for single homeless people. The Fund also supported the national roll out of No Second Night Out to ensure that rough sleepers are found quickly and helped off the streets. This investment means that 67% of rough sleepers in 20 key rough sleeping areas outside of London do not face more than one night on the streets.
- Investing £13 million in Crisis’ Access to the Private Rented Sector programme. Since it began in 2010, 153 voluntary sector led projects have helped 9,320 vulnerable people into accommodation with over 90% maintaining tenancies for at least six months.
- Ensuring that staff working on the homelessness frontline have the tools and skills they need to support vulnerable people. Our £10 million investment into the National Homelessness Advice Service has trained over 23,000 local authority, voluntary sector and Citizens Advice Bureax staff and has dealt with over 40,000 telephone cases.
- Supporting St Mungo's Broadway and Homeless Link to deliver SteetLink, the pioneering telephone line, app and website which allows members of the public to help connect rough sleepers to local services and help them off the streets quicker. Since December 2012, there have been 24,495 referrals for local authorities to investigate.
- Working with the Greater London Assembly, we have invested £5 million in the world's first homelessness social impact bond to deliver better outcomes for 831 of London's most frequent rough sleepers. More recently, we have expanded this model investing £15 million in seven voluntary sector led social impact bonds through the Fair Chance Fund. The seven projects will support 1,600 vulnerable young people into accommodation, training and employment.
Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what recent progress his Department has made on the Get Britain Building housing scheme.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
I refer the hon. Member to my answer of 25 February, Question 217184.
Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to better protect emergency services from attacks by youths.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
On 20 February 2007, the Emergency Workers (Obstruction) Act 2006 came into force. This Act, which specifically includes firefighters, makes it an offence to obstruct or hinder an emergency worker responding to emergency circumstances.
Fire and rescue authorities have in place various measures to engage with young people in their areas. While any attack on firefighters while carrying out their duties is one too many, the number of attacks in England continues to fall.
Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what targets his Department has on access to public buildings by physically disabled people.
Answered by Stephen Williams
The Equality Act 2010 requires service providers and employers to make reasonable adjustments to meet the needs of disabled people, which might include making buildings more accessible where it is reasonable to do so. Part M of the Building Regulations sets out requirements for access to, and use of, buildings.
Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to assist homeowners facing problems paying their mortgages and to provide practical advice and support.
Answered by Kris Hopkins
The Council of Mortgage Lenders reported 28,900 repossessions in 2013, down from 33,900 in 2012 and the lowest level since 2007. It has revised down its forecasts for 2014 to 28,000. The Government is not complacent, but believes this fall in repossessions is a consequence of improved arrears management by lenders and action the Coalition Government has taken to tackle the deficit and keep interest rates down.
Homeowners struggling with mortgage payments should take action as soon as possible by discussing their situation with their lender or contacting money advice experts such as Citizens Advice, Shelter, StepChange or National Debtline for free and independent advice on taking control of their finances.
Government support is available in the form of Support for Mortgage Interest, paid as part of DWP benefits to help eligible out-of-work households meet their monthly mortgage interest payments. The Budget in March this year extended the enhancements to the Support for Mortgage Interest scheme (a shortened 13 week waiting period and an increased capital limit of £200,000), until 31 March 2016.
Within England the Government continues to ensure the provision of free on-the-day legal advice (the Housing Possession Court Duty Scheme) to assist households at possession hearings. We are providing £470 million of funding in the current Spending Review period to prevent and tackle homelessness and repossessions.