Offenders: Homelessness

(asked on 15th July 2019) - View Source

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the effect of the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017 on the (a) effectiveness of joint-working between criminal justice agencies and local authorities and (b) homelessness.


Answered by
Lucy Frazer Portrait
Lucy Frazer
Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
This question was answered on 31st July 2019

Everyone leaving custody should have a safe and suitable home to go to on release; having somewhere to live gives people a stable platform from which to access health services, hold down a job and reduces the likelihood of them reoffending.

Ministry of Justice officials are working closely with officials from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to monitor the referrals being made and to facilitate joint working between local authorities and prison and probation providers.

Overcoming the many barriers offenders face to securing suitable accommodation is something that Ministry of Justice cannot do in isolation. While statutory responsibility for housing (including planning) and homelessness lies with local authorities in England, and with the Welsh Assembly in Wales, we are committed to working with other departments to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping.

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