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

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he is taking to ensure that (a) public authority and (b) hospital staff are aware of their duty to refer people who are at risk of homelessness to the necessary public services.

Statutory Homelessness Guidance sets out the public authorities which are subject to the duty to refer, including hospitals, and the procedure for referrals.

We continue to support local authorities to implement the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017 through investing more than £1 billion in the Homelessness Prevention Grant, promoting the duty to refer and increasing public awareness of the prevention duty, providing extra support on personalised housing plans and streamlining data.

DLUHC jointly published guidance with DHSC in January 2024: ‘Discharging people at risk of or experiencing homelessness’. This guidance is for staff in care transfer hubs and those involved in planning discharge of patients (including NHS, local authority, housing and other partners) to support with discharging patients at risk of or experiencing homelessness.