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

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what information his Department holds on the number of families that have been statutorily rehoused by each London borough (a) in that borough and (b) elsewhere in each year since 2010-11.

Figures on the numbers of households owed a main homelessness duty that have been rehoused into settled accommodation by each London borough from 2012-13 onwards are published on a quarterly basis and are available at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-homelessness.

These figures will include families. The figures do not specify whether households were rehoused in that borough or elsewhere.

This Government has invested over £500 million since 2010 to tackle all forms of homelessness and rough sleeping. The homelessness legislation in England provides one of the strongest safety nets in the world for families with children and vulnerable people who become homeless through no fault of their own. Local authorities are required to secure suitable accommodation for homeless households within their own district so far as is reasonably practicable. If they secure accommodation in another district they are legally required to notify the local housing authority in whose district the accommodation is situated. We have made it clear that no council should be sending tenants en masse to a different part of the country.

Councils have a responsibility to move homeless households into settled accommodation as quickly as possible. That is why we changed the law so that councils can place families in decent and affordable private rented homes more quickly. This will mean homeless households will not have to wait as long for settled accommodation, spending less time in temporary accommodation. Households now spend on average seven months less in temporary accommodation than at the start of 2010.