Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 14 October 2024 to Question 7729 on Homelessness, what information her Department collects to monitor the distance of out-of-area placements.
Answered by Rushanara Ali
Homelessness levels are far too high and can have a devastating impact on households affected, as well as putting local authorities and their services under financial strain. Homelessness legislation and the Code of Guidance sets out that local authorities should try to place individuals within their own area, and when this is not possible, they should place the household as near as possible to the original local authority. The Government is clear that local authorities should, as far as possible, avoid placing households out of their borough. However, this is not always possible when there is a limited supply of suitable accommodation.
Under section 208 of the Housing Act 1996, if a local authority places a household into accommodation in another local area, they are required by law to notify the local authority of any placement, to ensure there is no disruption to education or employment. This notification should be happening in every out of area placement.
The department collects data on statutory homelessness applications, duties and outcomes for local authorities in England, including data on out of borough placements. The department publishes data on out of area placements in the quarterly statistics here.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will make it her policy to review the funding criteria of Homes England to help facilitate investment in regeneration projects covering areas with high-density colliery housing that have significant numbers of (a) void, (b) derelict and (c) poor-quality homes, even if such regeneration schemes may result in a net reduction in the overall housing supply.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The department works closely with Homes England to ensure investment in housing and regeneration schemes supports the delivery of the Government’s wider housing ambitions, including providing high-quality new homes in the areas where they are most needed. We will carefully consider investment criteria for future funding against these ambitions to ensure they are being met.
The 2021-2026 Affordable Homes Programme can fund regeneration schemes where they are being delivered alongside net additional affordable housing. We plan to address the significant unmet need for affordable housing through the biggest increase in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation. Any assessment of the role of grant funding in the future delivery of affordable housing will be made at the next Spending Review.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will bring forward legislative proposals to limit the distance local authorities can relocate (a) people and (b) families when discharging a homelessness duty.
Answered by Rushanara Ali
Homelessness levels are far too high and too many families are living in temporary accommodation. We will take the action needed to tackle this issue and develop a long-term, cross-government strategy, through working with Mayors, councils and key stakeholders, to end homelessness for good.
Homelessness legislation sets out that local authorities should try to place individuals within their own area, and when this is not possible, they should place the household as near as possible to the original local authority. The Government is clear that local authorities should, as far as possible, avoid placing households out of their borough. However, this is not always possible when there is a limited supply of suitable accommodation. If a local authority places a household into accommodation in another local area, they are required by law to notify the local authority of any placement, to ensure there is no disruption to education or employment.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what (a) protections and (b) support are available for families facing homelessness who wish to refuse an offer of accommodation located a significant distance from their home area.
Answered by Rushanara Ali
Homelessness levels are far too high and too many families are living in temporary accommodation. We will take the action needed to tackle this issue and develop a long-term, cross-government strategy, through working with Mayors, councils and key stakeholders, to end homelessness for good.
Homelessness legislation sets out that local authorities should try to place individuals within their own area, and when this is not possible, they should place the household as near as possible to the original local authority. The Government is clear that local authorities should, as far as possible, avoid placing households out of their borough. However, this is not always possible when there is a limited supply of suitable accommodation. If a local authority places a household into accommodation in another local area, they are required by law to notify the local authority of any placement, to ensure there is no disruption to education or employment.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will bring forward legislative proposals to require local authorities discharging a homelessness duties out of area to notify the receiving local authority of each relocation.
Answered by Rushanara Ali
Homelessness levels are far too high and too many families are living in temporary accommodation. We will take the action needed to tackle this issue and develop a long-term, cross-government strategy, through working with Mayors, councils and key stakeholders, to end homelessness for good.
Homelessness legislation sets out that local authorities should try to place individuals within their own area, and when this is not possible, they should place the household as near as possible to the original local authority. The Government is clear that local authorities should, as far as possible, avoid placing households out of their borough. However, this is not always possible when there is a limited supply of suitable accommodation. If a local authority places a household into accommodation in another local area, they are required by law to notify the local authority of any placement, to ensure there is no disruption to education or employment.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether she is making additional resources available to receiving communities when families are placed out of area by a local authority seeking to prevent homelessness.
Answered by Rushanara Ali
Homelessness levels are far too high and too many families are living in temporary accommodation. We will take the action needed to tackle this issue and develop a long-term, cross-government strategy, through working with Mayors, councils and key stakeholders, to end homelessness for good.
Homelessness legislation sets out that local authorities should try to place individuals within their own area, and when this is not possible, they should place the household as near as possible to the original local authority. The Government is clear that local authorities should, as far as possible, avoid placing households out of their borough. However, this is not always possible when there is a limited supply of suitable accommodation. If a local authority places a household into accommodation in another local area, they are required by law to notify the local authority of any placement, to ensure there is no disruption to education or employment.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will establish a national oversight mechanism to (a) monitor and (b) review the practice of local authorities discharging homelessness duties out of area.
Answered by Rushanara Ali
Homelessness levels are far too high and too many families are living in temporary accommodation. We will take the action needed to tackle this issue and develop a long-term, cross-government strategy, through working with Mayors, councils and key stakeholders, to end homelessness for good.
Homelessness legislation sets out that local authorities should try to place individuals within their own area, and when this is not possible, they should place the household as near as possible to the original local authority. The Government is clear that local authorities should, as far as possible, avoid placing households out of their borough. However, this is not always possible when there is a limited supply of suitable accommodation. If a local authority places a household into accommodation in another local area, they are required by law to notify the local authority of any placement, to ensure there is no disruption to education or employment.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will (a) review the definition of affordable housing and (b) ensure that definition is linked to average wages by region.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Affordable housing is defined for planning purposes in the National Planning Policy Framework. The Government will be publishing a consultation on national planning policy before the end of July.
We are committed to the biggest increase in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation. New development will allow us to deliver thousands of affordable homes, including more for Social Rent. We will work with councils and housing associations to build capacity and ensure we build the homes people need.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what proportion of national house building targets will be for council housing in the next five years.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government is committed to the biggest increase in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation and we will work with councils and housing associations to achieve this. More announcements will be made in due course.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he is taking to support Durham County Council to deliver a Housing First approach to address long term homelessness.
Answered by Felicity Buchan
The Government recognises that local authorities are best placed to make decisions on what local services they provide based on local priorities and circumstances, including designing and delivering Housing First projects where appropriate. We are investing over £2 billion over three years in tackling homelessness and rough sleeping. Funding allocated to Durham for locally led initiatives includes over £680,000 in funding directly to the Durham Unitary Authority through the Rough Sleeping Initiative 2022-25, a further just under £3.8 million as part of a Durham-led joint funding award across the North-East, over £3 million (originally allocated) to County Durham through the Rough Sleeping Accommodation Programme, and over £4 million through the Single Homelessness Accommodation Programme.
We have also published a Mobilising Housing First toolkit to support local areas seeking to develop Housing First projects, which is available here: Housing First Pilot: national evaluation reports - GOV.UK