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

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of the average time families live in temporary accommodation in the last three years; and what steps he is taking to reduce waiting lists for social housing.

The Statutory Homelessness Statistics publication for the 2021-22 sets out that the most common length of time for households with children to be in temporary accommodation was for two to five years, representing 19,450 or a third (33.0%) of households with children. This is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/statutory-homelessness-in-england-financial-year-2021-22.

Time spent in temporary accommodation means people are getting help and it ensures no family is without a roof over their head. This Government is committed to reducing the need for temporary accommodation by preventing homelessness before it occurs. Local Authorities have received £316 million through the Homelessness Prevention Grant in 2022-23, giving them the funding to prevent homelessness and help more people sooner.

Since 2010, social housing waiting lists have reduced by more than 550,000 households and we have delivered more than 574,000 affordable homes, including 154,600 for social rent. A further £11.5 billion of taxpayer subsidy is being made available with £8.6 billion of that already allocated.