Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent steps his Department has taken to work with local communities in reducing levels of homelessness in their areas.

Tackling homelessness is a complex issue with no single solution, but we are determined to help the most vulnerable in society.

That is why we are providing over £1 billion up to 2020 to reduce all forms of homelessness and rough sleeping, and introducing the most ambitious legislative reform in decades through the Homelessness Reduction Act to ensure people get support sooner. In particular, we are supporting 84 projects through our Homelessness Prevention programme across a variety of areas, ranging from core cities, to coastal towns, to rural areas.

We are also providing £28 million to pilot Housing First in three major regions of England. The pilots will support some of the most entrenched rough sleepers off the streets and help them to end their homelessness.

The recently established Rough Sleeping and Homelessness Reduction Taskforce will first deliver a cross-Government strategy to halve rough sleeping by 2022 and eliminate it altogether by 2027. However, it will also drive action to reduce wider homelessness and will have within its remit issues such as prevention and affordability.