Homelessness: LGBT People

(asked on 25th June 2020) - View Source

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of the covid- 19 outbreak on homeless (a) trans LGBTQ+ and (b) BAME LGBTQ+ young people.


Answered by
Luke Hall Portrait
Luke Hall
Minister of State (Education)
This question was answered on 3rd July 2020

We recognise that?LGBTQ+?homelessness is an important issue, particularly among young people, and that?LGBTQ+?people who find themselves homeless may have a different experience of homelessness. This department has provided funds to both charities and local authorities which will enable to them to support their communities, including LGBTQ+ people, whether they have been homeless, are at risk of homelessness or are rough sleeping.

At the beginning of the crisis, our priority was to urgently bring vulnerable people inside so they could self-isolate and stop the virus spreading. We backed this with £3.2 million in emergency funding for local authorities to support vulnerable rough sleepers, and a further £3.2 billion to help councils to manage the impacts of COVID-19, including supporting homeless people. This may include people identifying as LGBTQ+. This has had a huge impact - thanks to the hard work of local authorities, agencies and the homelessness sector around the country – as nearly 15,000 vulnerable people have been housed in emergency accommodation, including hotels, since the start of the COVID-19 lockdown period.? On 24 June we announced that we are providing local authorities with a further £105 million to enable them to best support the nearly 15,000 people placed into emergency accommodation during the COVID-19 pandemic.

On 14 May MHCLG announced £6 million of emergency funding to provide relief for frontline homelessness charitable organisations who are directly affected by the COVID-19 outbreak. Following a successful bidding process, over 130 charities across England are set to benefit from the £6 million emergency fund. Successful bids included Stonewall Housing which provides housing advice and support for LGBTQ people whether they are homeless, at risk of homelessness or rough sleeping.

Announced on 2 May, the Rough Sleeping Taskforce has one overriding objective: to ensure that as few people as possible who have been brought in off the streets in this pandemic return to the streets. Supporting the Taskforce are our Homelessness Advice and Support Team, which includes dedicated?youth?homelessness advisor roles that have a commitment to work with local authorities to proactively promote positive joint working across housing authorities and children’s services, offering training, advice and support to all local authorities.

Reticulating Splines