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 Joseph Rowntree Foundation report, Providing personalised support to rough sleepers, what assessment he has made of the viability of personalised support and direct cash transfers as a policy to reduce homelessness and rough sleeping.

We recognise the importance of providing personalised support and its role in helping people who are rough sleeping or have a history of doing so.

As this is a devolved issue, MHCLG does not cover homelessness and housing policy in Wales and therefore, the following information relates only to England.

In August, we announced funding for ‘navigators’ who will support individuals from their first contact with services through to settled accommodation and will be able to make use of personalised budgets where appropriate. We recently launched a prospectus for our Rapid Rehousing Pathway, which will include navigators and we expect early adopters to start delivering in early 2019.

We are also funding seven Social Impact Bonds (SIBs) to work with long-term rough sleepers who have multiple complex needs towards positive accommodation, employment and health outcomes. The SIB model includes a personalised budget that can be flexibly used to best support individuals to maintain their accommodation and improve their wellbeing.