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

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will prevent local authorities from informing people that are intentionally homeless and cannot be supported.

This Government is committed to preventing homelessness and in 2021/22 we provided £310 million in funding through the Homelessness Prevention Grant to enable local authorities to implement their duties under the Homelessness Reduction Act. The Act is the most ambitious reform to homelessness legislation in decades, placing duties on local housing authorities to take reasonable steps to try to prevent and relieve a person’s homelessness. These duties apply irrespective of whether a person may be regarded as being ‘intentionally homeless’.

Households with a priority need whose homelessness has not been successfully prevented or relieved, are owed a lesser duty if they have become homeless intentionally than if they were homeless unintentionally. This ensures that resources, including temporary accommodation and access to settled housing, are prioritised effectively and accommodation is there for people who need it most. In such cases, a duty remains on the local authority to secure temporary accommodation, to provide reasonable opportunity for the household to find their own longer-term accommodation. The authority must also provide advice and assistance in any attempts the applicant might make to secure accommodation.

Intentionally homeless applicants are therefore entitled to assistance under the legislation and can be supported.