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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the report entitled Everybody In: How to end homelessness in Great Britain, published by Crisis in 2018, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policies of that report; and if he will make an assessment of the validity of that report's findings on the merits of building 100,500 social homes each year.

The Government is aware homelessness is an issue which goes beyond Westminster, which is why the Rough Sleeping Advisory Panel was set up. The panel, of which Crisis CEO Jon Sparkes is a member, provides evidence-based advice which the Government will consider ahead of the upcoming Rough Sleeping Strategy.

This Government is pleased at how aligned the report is with actions we have already taken. The campaign calls for the implementation of schemes such as Housing First. In last autumn’s budget with £28 million worth of funding was announced for pilots in Manchester, Liverpool and the West Midlands.

We are committed to increasing the supply of new social homes. We are investing over £9 billion in affordable housing, and on June 26, this Department announced we will deliver a further 23,000 affordable homes, including at least 12,500 at social rent in high-cost areas, in a move to support families struggling to pay their rent. We have also invited local authorities in high affordability pressure areas to bid for a share of £1 billion extra borrowing to build much-needed homes.