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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the number of veterans who are homeless in (a) the UK, (b) the North West and (c) St Helens borough.

MHCLG does not collect this information.

We have put in place a new statutory duty under the Homelessness Reduction Act, requiring the Secretary of State for Defence to refer members of the armed forces to local authority housing services, where local authorities will develop a personalised housing plan, tailored to their needs, to prevent them from becoming homelessness. Where veterans are homeless and vulnerable as a result of having served in the armed forces, local authorities have a duty to house them.

Further, we have worked with the Ministry of Defence to ensure that the additional £1 million MHCLG has made available specifically for veterans is most effectively positioned to help them in the best way possible. It could go towards the funding of new specialist staff, or training of existing staff to provide veterans with the bespoke support they need as they navigate civilian life. It may also be used to create new pathways to existing specialist support services on offer, ranging from assistance to access supported housing to mental health and PTSD provision.

This Government is committed to reducing homelessness and rough sleeping. No one should ever have to sleep rough. That is why last summer we published the cross-government Rough Sleeping Strategy which sets out an ambitious £100 million package to help people who sleep rough now, but also puts in place the structures that will end rough sleeping once and for all. Already, the Rough Sleeping Initiative has provided over 2,600 additional bed spaces and 750 more support staff. In all, the Government has now committed over £1.2 billion to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping over the spending review period.