Homelessness

Jim Cunningham Excerpts

Tuesday 27th February 2018 Commons Chamber

[Chris Evans (Islwyn) (Lab/Co-op)]

It is a privilege to be the third member of the Public Accounts Committee to speak in today’s debate. It would be remiss of me not to mention the speech made by the hon. Member for Oxford West and Abingdon (Layla Moran), who is a member of the Committee, in which she focused a laser beam on issues of concern to her. I am also delighted to follow the hon. Member for Chichester (Gillian Keegan), who is not afraid to go after any Department, and does so without fear or favour.

The problem of homelessness goes much deeper than the 9,000 rough sleepers in this country. As a report published by the Public Accounts Committee clearly outlined at the end of last year, there are over 78,000 households in temporary accommodation, including 120,000 children. Although these tens of thousands have a roof over their heads, they do not have a place to call home. This is a national disgrace, but it is not inevitable.

Solutions will require effective decision making by the Government and the proper targeting of funding. It is all very well for the Government to announce £1 billion to end homelessness, but if that money is wasted and there are overruns, those we seek to help will not get the assistance they need. What is certain when we talk about money is that the solution is not to cut funding for preventing homelessness, or to remove the £25 million in capital funding allocated for reducing homelessness, as the Government have done in the past.

The Public Accounts Committee report, which the hon. Member for Oxford West and Abingdon mentioned, highlighted the then Department for Communities and Local Government’s light-touch approach to homelessness—with the emphasis on “light-touch”—and its many failings. This must be turned around.

We have heard that the Department is working closely with other Departments and local authorities to reduce homelessness, and about the good work of the homelessness task force. Over and over again, Departments have promised to engage in joined-up working and have given lofty assurances about fixing major problems. All too often, however, we see that the reality is very different, and unrealistic promises have come crashing down under the Public Account Committee’s scrutiny once Departments’ plans come into contact with the real world. That is the issue with homelessness: we have all these lofty ideals, but if we are not delivering on them, ultimately the problem will go on and on.

We see from the Public Accounts Committee report that despite the promises of joint working between the former Department for Communities and Local Government and the Department for Work and Pensions, neither has assessed the impact of changes to the local housing allowance. This is despite clear evidence of the ever-rising cost of private rented accommodation. The availability of affordable accommodation for people on low incomes is dwindling in areas of high inequality, yet little seems to have been done by Departments to tackle this. The report is clear in recommending that the Department should put together and implement a realistic strategy, with specific actions to reduce homelessness. These actions must be backed up with realistic measures to ensure that those actions achieve the right outcome.

Why is a Welsh MP speaking in a debate on homelessness, which is a devolved matter? It is because I want to bring up the example of what we are doing. In Wales, with our Labour-led Welsh Assembly, we have an innovative approach to homelessness under the Housing (Wales) Act 2014, which came into force in 2016. Local authorities in Wales have assisted more people, and there has been a reduction in the number of people who remain homeless after seeking help. That has been achieved, among other important changes, by placing a legal duty on local authorities to help to prevent homelessness. I strongly believe that England can and must follow the example set by Wales, and I hope that that will emerge during the passage of the Vagrancy (Repeal) Bill. It is simply not acceptable that families who do not have access to social housing are put in substandard private accommodation.

[Mr Jim Cunningham (Coventry South) (Lab)]

Will my hon. Friend give us a couple of examples from Wales so that we can understand how Wales has tackled this issue? He has mentioned legislation, but can he give us some examples of the practical implementation of such measures?

[Chris Evans]

Yes, I can. In my constituency of Islwyn and in Caerphilly, we have the quality home assurance, which is providing top-quality accommodation. We are ensuring that families do not have to stay in bed and breakfasts, and that they are given accommodation as soon as they become homeless. These are small steps, but they are making a large difference to people’s lives in my constituency.

It is not a good situation if people have substandard accommodation, and it is not even a good use of taxpayers’ money. Perhaps the only beneficiaries of such a situation are the unscrupulous landlords who charge extortionate rents for substandard accommodation and get away with it, with the taxpayer footing the bill.

--- Later in debate ---

[Will Quince (Colchester) (Con)]

It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Islwyn (Chris Evans).

There is no inevitability about homelessness. In 21st-century Britain, there is no reason for anybody to sleep rough on our streets. It is perhaps too easy to walk past a rough sleeper and pretend that they are not there, and to think that the individual before us must have done something wrong—that they are a drug addict or alcoholic, someone to be fearful of and stay away from. We must break this taboo. Every rough sleeper is somebody’s son or daughter and every or any single one of us could be in that position within a small number of unfortunate life events. We must never forget that.

It cannot be said enough that one person sleeping rough on our streets is one person too many. In last year’s autumn Budget, the Chancellor announced £28 million of funding for three Housing First pilots in Manchester, Liverpool and the west midlands. That was such an important move, because the underlying causes of homelessness, and, in particular, rough sleeping, are incredibly complex. To suggest that they are attributable to any single cause is to display an unwillingness truly to understand the issue.

The more we can learn about what forces people on to our streets, the better we can target preventive support, yet there are some things that we do know. If we look at the 2016-17 Combined Homelessness and Information Network figures for London, we can see that among those who were interviewed the single biggest reason given by new rough sleepers for leaving their previous accommodation was the loss of a tenancy, yet that was not because they were evicted for antisocial behaviour or rent arrears. Individuals were asked to leave, most likely through section 21 notices from their landlords. The second biggest reason was relationship breakdown, which is not all that unexpected given that young single men are rarely considered a priority need unless they are vulnerable. We need to consider both issues to see how rough sleeping can be prevented, but it is more important to ensure that there are support services in place for those already sleeping rough on our streets.

The CHAIN report found that 47% of the rough sleepers that the network spoke to had mental health support needs, 44% had alcohol support needs and 35% had drug support needs. That underlines the problem in trying to tackle this issue: rough sleeping is not simply a homelessness problem. All too often we hear stories of individuals who have been helped off the streets and into temporary accommodation but who do not get the support they need to address the root causes so, unfortunately, they end up back on the streets.

Addiction can also affect people’s ability to enter emergency accommodation. In my experience, those sleeping rough on our streets cannot stay at the local night shelter or hostel because they have an alcohol or drug addiction. That is why Housing First is so important. We need to get vulnerable people off the streets and into stable accommodation so that we can help them with their underlying support needs.

[Mr Jim Cunningham]

We do not have to go too far from here—just down to Victoria—to see people living rough on the streets. I often wonder why nothing has been done about them, and I see them regularly down there. There is another factor too. Homeless families have been exploited by landlords and are in overcrowded accommodation, and some of them are evicted because they cannot afford to pay the rents, so we should think about building council housing for a change as well.

[Will Quince]

The hon. Gentleman makes a good point. I want specifically to talk about rough sleeping, and he raises a point about wider homelessness. I have no doubt that colleagues across the Chamber will speak more widely about homelessness, but I want to talk about rough sleeping, which does not necessarily fall into the category of families. It tends predominantly to involve young single men and young single women.

We do not have to look too widely across the world to see that Housing First is working and helping rough sleepers with the most complex needs.