Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of reintroducing an Everyone In scheme; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Felicity Buchan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
Further to the answer to Question UIN 13174 given on 31 January 2023, since the pandemic the Government has allocated up to £500 million to local authorities through the Rough Sleeping Initiative 2022-25 to support people into longer-term accommodation and help them sustain a life away from the streets.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of funding for Local Authorities to tackle homelessness services in the context of rising inflation.
Answered by Felicity Buchan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
I refer the Rt Hon Member to the following announcement.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, pursuant to his oral evidence in November to the Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Select Committee, whether he has any further proposals to increase the likelihood of hitting his target of eradicating rough sleeping by 2024; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Felicity Buchan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
We have made good progress towards ending rough sleeping, with rough sleeping levels falling 49% since 2017. In September 2022, we published our new cross-government strategy 'Ending Rough Sleeping for Good', setting out how we are investing £2 billion over the next three years to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping. However we are not complacent and we know times are tough for many people.
The annual rough sleeping snapshot remains our official and most robust measure of rough sleeping on a single night. The 2022 rough sleeping snapshot will be published at the end of February.
We also collect monthly management information on individuals experiencing rough sleeping and accommodation to provide a more holistic picture of rough sleeping trends. We publish this on a quarterly basis. The next publication of management information, from September 2022 to December 2022, will be published alongside the annual snapshot in February.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, when he plans to publish updated estimates of the number of people sleeping rough.
Answered by Felicity Buchan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
We have made good progress towards ending rough sleeping, with rough sleeping levels falling 49% since 2017. In September 2022, we published our new cross-government strategy 'Ending Rough Sleeping for Good', setting out how we are investing £2 billion over the next three years to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping. However we are not complacent and we know times are tough for many people.
The annual rough sleeping snapshot remains our official and most robust measure of rough sleeping on a single night. The 2022 rough sleeping snapshot will be published at the end of February.
We also collect monthly management information on individuals experiencing rough sleeping and accommodation to provide a more holistic picture of rough sleeping trends. We publish this on a quarterly basis. The next publication of management information, from September 2022 to December 2022, will be published alongside the annual snapshot in February.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of progress on the target to end rough sleeping by 2024; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Felicity Buchan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Government is committed to ending rough sleeping and has made excellent progress on its manifesto commitment. The most recent snapshot published in February 2022 showed the number of people sleeping rough is at an eight-year low and has almost halved since 2017. We published our refreshed rough sleeping strategy in September 2022, which set out our defined vision for ending rough sleeping, which is that it is prevented wherever possible, and where it does occur it is rare, brief and non-recurrent.
That said, it is important to acknowledge the significant economic challenges ahead and how Government is focused on getting the public finances on a sustainable footing whilst protecting the most vulnerable members in society. This is why we are investing £2 billion over the next three years into tackling homelessness and rough sleeping.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, pursuant to his statement yesterday, UIN HCWS469, on Local Government Finance, whether he took steps to ensure his proposals adequately reflected population increases identified in the Census 2021 such as the 14 per cent increase in population in the London Borough of Newham in the period 2011-2021.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
I refer the Rt. Hon. Member to this letter from Jeremy Pocklington, Permanent Secretary at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, to the Public Accounts Committee, which sets out the interaction between census data and local government finance.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department is taking to help Help to Buy leaseholders find a surveyor to make a cladding-affected valuation of their property.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
All customers who wish to pay off their equity loan need to have their home professionally valued first to ascertain its current market value. Those whose properties have building safety issues, such as unsafe exterior cladding, can present additional challenges in valuing. The process to get a valuation and redeem an equity loan for properties affected by cladding can be found on Target, the loan administrator's, website here.
We are aware that some customers are having difficulties finding a valuer prepared to value their properties. We are working with Homes England and RICS to try to find ways to help customers, including potentially unlocking more valuation options for them in the future.
Homes England previously referred some customers to the President of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) to appoint a valuer. Fourteen customers paid and were subsequently refunded the £425 fee once it became clear that the option was no longer viable.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how many Help to Buy leaseholders paid the £425 administration fee following the commitment by Homes England that the RICS president would find a surveyor to make a cladding-affected valuation of their property.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
All customers who wish to pay off their equity loan need to have their home professionally valued first to ascertain its current market value. Those whose properties have building safety issues, such as unsafe exterior cladding, can present additional challenges in valuing. The process to get a valuation and redeem an equity loan for properties affected by cladding can be found on Target, the loan administrator's, website here.
We are aware that some customers are having difficulties finding a valuer prepared to value their properties. We are working with Homes England and RICS to try to find ways to help customers, including potentially unlocking more valuation options for them in the future.
Homes England previously referred some customers to the President of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) to appoint a valuer. Fourteen customers paid and were subsequently refunded the £425 fee once it became clear that the option was no longer viable.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what plans he has to help tackle youth homelessness.
Answered by Paul Scully
In September 2022, the Government published 'Ending Rough Sleeping for Good'. The strategy recognises that young people face particular challenges. That is why we will be encouraging priority local authorities to bid for youth-specific supported accommodation as a part of our new Single Homelessness Accommodation Project (SHAP).
Additionally, £2.4 million of the Rough Sleeping Initiative 2022-25 is going towards funding youth services in local areas. A £3.2 million investment is being provided in 2022/23 for targeted support, through specialist advisors, to young people leaving care most at risk of homelessness and rough sleeping. This will be expanding from 56 to 69 local authorities.
We have also put in place bespoke support for local authorities through our Homelessness Advice and Support Team, 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: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, which Minister in his Department is responsible for faith community engagement.
Answered by Paul Scully
As with all departmental business, the Secretary of State maintains overall responsibility for the work of the department. My noble friend Baroness Scott of Bybrook supports the Secretary of State on faith community engagement.