Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many of the 23,000 people supported into longer-term accommodation through the Everyone In scheme were in each (a) local authority and (b) type of tenancy or accommodation.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
The Government published a breakdown by local authority of the people supported, including those who have been supported into longer-term accommodation as part of our data release in September. This is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-emergency-accommodation-survey-data-september-2020.
We are funding both interim and long-term accommodation this year to make sure that as many people as possible who have been supported during the pandemic do not return to the streets. On the 29 October, we announced funding of more than £150 million to deliver more than 3,300 units of long-term, supported, move-on accommodation for rough sleepers across the country. We are now working with our delivery partners at Homes England and the Greater London Authority to ensure these schemes are delivered at pace.
We also announced the type of tenancy and accommodation will depend on the individual’s needs. We will help ensure that people can access the services and support that are appropriate to their needs.
This individual approach is why local authorities are best placed to allocate individuals to appropriate accommodation. Interventions should be aimed at rapidly delivering outcomes which meet individuals’ housing and support needs.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 11 January 2021 to Question 130094, how many and what proportion of the 29,000 people housed through the Everyone In scheme were subject to No Recourse to Public Funds restrictions.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
Through Everyone In, by November we had supported around 33,000 people with nearly 10,000 in emergency accommodation and over 23,000 already moved on into longer-term accommodation.
We are aware that some of these individuals housed during Everyone In will have No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) restrictions. The data and breakdown requested is currently not available.
The rules as to eligibility relating to immigration status, including for those with NRPF, have not changed.
Local authorities must use their judgement in assessing what support they may lawfully give to each person on an individual basis, considering that person’s specific circumstances and support needs.
Local authorities already regularly make such judgements on accommodating individuals who might otherwise be ineligible, during extreme weather for example, where there is a risk to life.
Local authorities may also provide basic safety net support if it is established that there is a genuine care need that does not arise solely from destitution, for example, where there are community care needs, migrants with serious health problems or family cases where the wellbeing of a child is in question.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what plans his Department has to ensure that local authorities can adequately support the increasing number of young people who are sleeping rough in winter 2020-21.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
This Government is committed to ending rough sleeping. We have taken huge steps working with local authorities and their partners to protect rough sleepers during the pandemic and through the winter.
The Protect programme, in particular, is backed by £15 million and will help areas that need additional support most during the restrictions and throughout winter. It builds on the success of ‘Everyone In’, which is ongoing and has so far helped to protect thousands of lives during the pandemic. By September it had supported over 29,000 people; with over 10,000 in emergency accommodation and nearly 19,000 moved on into settled accommodation.
We have also announced additional support over the winter period including the £10 million Cold Weather Fund and £2 million Transformation Fund.
All councils have been asked to update their rough sleeping plans and to carry out a rapid assessment of need for everyone they accommodate and to consider time limited interventions for those new to rough sleeping.
We have bespoke support for local authorities through our Homelessness Advice and Support Team, which includes dedicated youth homelessness advisors that have a commitment to work with local authorities to promote positive joint working across housing authorities and children’s services, offering training, advice and support to all local authorities.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many homeless people accommodated under the Everyone In scheme are not being funded by the Government as a result of No Recourse to Public Funds restrictions.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
Throughout the pandemic, we have worked closely with local authorities and the sector to offer vulnerable people safe accommodation and support. That work is ongoing and by September, we had successfully supported over?29,000 people, with 10,000 still in emergency accommodation and over 19,000 provided with settled accommodation or move on support.? These efforts have been backed by significant Government support,?including?over £4.6 billion in?unringfenced?grants.
The rules as to eligibility relating to immigration status, including for those with No Recourse to Public Funds, have not changed. This has been the case throughout the response to the Covid-19 pandemic and continues to be so.
Local authorities must use their judgement in assessing what support they may lawfully give to each person on an individual basis, considering that person’s specific circumstances and support needs.
The data and breakdown requested is currently not available.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the interim evaluation of the Housing First pilots in (a) Greater Manchester, (b) Merseyside and (c) the West Midlands; and when he plans to publish the findings of that evaluation.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
Housing First?has?an?impressive international record in helping people with complex needs to recover and stay off the streets for good, which is why we awarded £28?million?to pilot Housing First at scale in three?urban?areas?with contrasting challenges?(the West Midlands, Greater Manchester and?Liverpool?City Region). Alongside this, we?commissioned a consortium, led by ICF, to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the programme, which will run?for the duration?of the pilots.
We recognise that rough sleeping is a nationwide challenge, and that is why it is important that we consider the findings of our evaluation, together with our experiences from the three pilots, to ensure that we know how it could work best on a larger scale.?The Government is committed to building a robust evaluation and will be publishing the interim evaluation report in due course.
The Housing First pilots are now in their third year. ?Since their launch, our expert advisers have been working closely with each of the three pilot regions to closely monitor and support progress.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing Combined Homelessness and Information Network style reporting systems in city regions outside of London to improve the quality of data on homelessness and rough sleeping.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The Combined Homelessness and Information Network (CHAIN) is a multi-agency database recording information about people seen rough sleeping by outreach teams in London.
To introduce a CHAIN style reporting system in city regions outside of London would require all local authorities to have a multi-agency database or to have an outreach team counting the number of rough sleepers in their area every night of the year. However, we do expect all local authorities to regularly gather information and data on rough sleeping in their area.
Our annual snapshot data provides a way of estimating the number of people sleeping rough across England on a single night and allows us to assess change over time. The Rough Sleeping Snapshot statistics are independently verified by Homeless Link and designated as Official Statistics.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether funds made available to local authorities to support covid-19-related work are allocated under the provisions of the National Assistance Act 1948.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
MHCLG has provided unringfenced funding for local government to support their response to the COVID-19 pandemic using the powers provided by section 31 of the Local Government Act 2003.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether the Everyone In scheme is continuing to provide accommodation for people who have found themselves homeless in the last two months.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The Everyone In campaign is ongoing. Throughout the pandemic, we have worked closely with local authorities and the sector to offer vulnerable people safe accommodation and support and by September we had successfully supported over 29,000 people, with 10,000 still in emergency accommodation and over 19,000 provided with settled accommodation or move on support.
Announced on 5 November, the Protect Programme is the next step in the ongoing targeted support protecting some of the most vulnerable people in our communities from COVID-19, backed by £15 million to provide accommodation for rough sleepers during the pandemic. Through this, we have asked all councils to update their rough sleeping plans and to carry out a rapid assessment of need for everyone they accommodate. This programme will help areas that need additional support most throughout winter. This builds on the £10 million Cold Weather Fund, open to all local authorities, meaning all local areas are eligible for support this winter.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to tackle changes in the level of youth homelessness; and how he plans to ensure the availability of age appropriate accommodation (a) in winter 2020 and (b) each of the next three years.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
This year alone, the Government is spending over £700 million in total to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping.
The Protect Programme builds on other recently announced measures to keep rough sleepers safe this winter.
We allocated £91.5 million to 274 councils in September to fund their individual rough sleeping plans and £150 million to local partners to deliver longer-term move-on accommodation for vulnerable people. We also provided a £10 million Cold Weather Fund for councils to provide rough sleepers with safe accommodation over the coming months.
We have put in place bespoke support for local authorities through our Homelessness Advice and Support Team (HAST), which includes dedicated youth homelessness advisor roles that have a commitment to work with local authorities to proactively promote positive joint working across housing authorities and children’s services, offering training, advice and support to all local authorities.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, when the Cold Weather Fund to support councils get rough sleepers off the streets will be available; and how that funding will be distributed in London.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The Government recently announced a new £10 million Cold Weather Fund to support councils in helping rough sleepers off the streets during the winter by assisting them in providing more self-contained accommodation. We have written to local authorities to set out how they can access the Cold Weather Fund. Applications should be made by 4 December.
We have also announced a £15 million Protect Programme to support the ongoing efforts to provide accommodation for rough sleepers during the coming winter months. This programme will help areas that need additional support most during the restrictions and throughout this period. London is one of the areas to receive support under the Protect Programme.
This is alongside an additional £2 million for faith and community groups to help them provide COVID-19 secure winter accommodation for rough sleepers, and comprehensive guidance to the sector, produced with Public Health England, Homeless Link and Housing Justice to help shelters open more safely, where not doing so would endanger lives.