Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the number of people refused emergency housing each night in (a) Greater London, (b) the London Borough of Lambeth and (c) England in the most recent period for which figures are available.
MHCLG does not collect this information. MHCLG publishes experimental statistics on statutory homelessness reflecting local authorities’ duties towards homeless people. This collection does not include information on individuals not helped by the local authority.
This year through the Rough Sleeping Initiative, MHCLG have provided a total of £46 million funding to 264 local authorities, including Lambeth, and a number of London boroughs, in order to support people off the streets in their areas. This will be used to provide 2,600 beds for rough sleepers and 750 outreach and specialist staff.
The 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. This 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. The Government has now committed over £1.2 billion to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping over the spending review period.