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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what specific steps her Department is taking to help reduce homelessness among (a) LGBT+ people, (b) women, (c) black and other ethnic minority communities and (d) young people.

On his first day in office, the Prime Minister launched an urgent national drive to end rough sleeping. We have announced £442 million new funding to support this ambition, taking the total investment in homelessness and rough sleeping services over the next three years to over £4 billion. Local authorities are best placed to understand and respond to local need, and this flexible funding can be used to design services that meet the needs of LGBT+ people, women, black and other ethnic minority communities and young people. We are clear that housing authorities must be mindful of the Equality Act 2010 and their public sector equality duties towards people who have a protected characteristic.

The Government recognises that some groups of people, including women, young people, LGBT+ people and people from ethnic minority backgrounds can face barriers to support. Through the National Plan to End Homelessness and A Local Plan to End Homelessness, we are clear that services need to be designed to meet their needs.

The department recently published a new chapter of the Homelessness Code of Guidance on young people, which is available at Chapter 22: Young people, including those with care experience - Guidance - GOV.UK and we are developing a new youth homelessness tool kit to support local authorities to prevent young people from experiencing homelessness and rough sleeping.