Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent assessment he has made of trends in the level of children in temporary accommodation in the last three years.

Local authorities seek to place families into settled accommodation at the soonest possible opportunity. However, where this is not possible, temporary accommodation plays an important role in ensuring that no child is ever without a roof over their head, and this is particularly important when we are dealing with the impacts of Covid-19.

Reducing the number of households in temporary accommodation has been a priority for this Government and, a result, the numbers of households in temporary accommodation, 87,410 (as of?September 2019), remains below the September 2004 peak, when they hit 101,300. The number of children living in?temporary accommodation?is down from its peak in June 2006 at?134,470, with?127,890?in?September 2019.

The Chancellor recently announced that for 2020/21, we will increase the Local Housing Allowance rates for Universal Credit and Housing Benefit claimants so that they are set at the 30th percentile of local rents. This will mean that many people renting in the Private Rented Sector see an increase in their housing support from April 2020, providing extra security during these uncertain times. The average claimant will gain an additional £600 per year in increased housing support.

The Homelessness Reduction Act, the most ambitious reform to homelessness legislation in decades, came into force on 3 April 2018. The Act requires local authorities and other public bodies to work together to actively prevent homelessness for people at risk. This is backed by the £63 million Homelessness Reduction Grant in 2020/21 which provides an uplift on previous years’ new burdens funding to implement the Homelessness Reduction Act and will enable local authorities to do more to prevent and relieve homelessness in their areas.