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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent assessment he has made of the effect of demand for temporary accommodation on local authorities.

This Government is clear that one person without a home is one too many and we are committed to preventing and reducing homelessness and rough sleeping. Time spent in temporary accommodation means people are getting help and it ensures no family is without a roof over their head.

We have put in place an ambitious programme of work to support households out of Temporary Accommodation. The Homelessness Reduction Act, which came into force in April 2018, bolsters the support offer for families and individuals by ensuring that there are more opportunities for local authorities to put in place bespoke interventions to either prevent homelessness from happening in the first place, or relieve them from a homelessness crisis where it does occur.

We have also put in place targeted funding streams focused on reducing the number of households in Temporary Accommodation as part of our £1.2 billion spending programme. For example, earlier this year, we announced £19.5 million for 54 projects through the Private Rented Sector Access Fund that will enable thousands of households to be supported away from Temporary Accommodation and into long term Private Rented accommodation.

We have also committed £37.8 million of funding to launch Capital Letters, a collaboration between London boroughs which will enable them to become more efficient in securing accommodation within London, reduce the cost to local authorities of procuring accommodation and enable them to place households closer to home.