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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of limits on the amount that local authorities can spend on temporary accommodation from the Homelessness Prevention Grant on costs to local authorities.

This Government has inherited record levels of temporary accommodation, and we recognise the pressure this has put on councils. The Homelessness Prevention Grant was never intended to meet all of councils’ temporary accommodation costs. Councils can and do draw from the wider settlement to meet temporary accommodation costs. The government regularly takes a wide range of evidence into account when determining the overall level of funding available for local government services, including expected temporary accommodation pressures in 2025-26.

The majority of funding provided through the Local Government Finance Settlement is un-ringfenced in recognition that local councils are best placed to understand the needs of their communities. The Government has confirmed there will be over £5 billion additional government grant funding available for local government services in 2025-26, over and above increases to council tax. Of this, over £2 billion is being made available through the Local Government Finance Settlement for 2025-26.