Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what additional financial support his Department is making available to local authorities to assist rough sleepers following the Prime Minister's announcement of 31 October 2020 of further lockdown restrictions.

During 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 has not stopped. In September, we had successfully supported over 29,000 people, with 10,000 in emergency accommodation and nearly 19,000 provided with settled accommodation or move on support.

We will continue to work with councils, charities and other partners - backed by over £700 million of government funding this year alone - to protect the most vulnerable in society.
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This includes a new £10 million Cold Weather Fund to support councils to tackle homelessness this winter and bring forward self-contained accommodation where possible. We are also providing local authorities with £91.5 million for interim accommodation and £150 million for long-term homes via the Next Steps Accommodation Programme to prevent those accommodated during the pandemic from returning to the streets.

This is in addition to £6.4 billion to help local authorities to support their communities throughout this pandemic, which includes their work to support rough sleepers.

We are monitoring the situation closely and will be setting out further information on support for rough sleepers shortly.