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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether she plans to introduce a statutory inspection regime for temporary accommodation; and whether she will provide additional funding to local authorities to enable them to carry out inspections of temporary accommodation before first use and when new residents are placed.

Councils must ensure that temporary accommodation is suitable for the needs of the household and free from the most serious category 1 hazards. As we recently set out in our response to the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee which can be found here, inspections are an effective means of assuring the quality and suitability of temporary accommodation, and we encourage local authorities to inspect properties before use. Councils can use funding provided through the £2.7 billion Homelessness, Rough Sleeping and Domestic Abuse Grant for inspections and improvement of temporary accommodation.

To strengthen protections, we plan on applying the new Decent Homes Standard across temporary accommodation wherever possible and are currently consulting on extending Awaab’s Law across temporary accommodation occupied under licence. We have also strengthened assurance at local level by requiring local authorities to set out in their action plans the steps they will take to ensure temporary accommodation is suitable.