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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what long-term support he plans to provide to local authorities to house rough sleepers that were assisted during the covid-19 lockdown.

Almost 15,000 vulnerable people have been housed in emergency accommodation, including hotels, since the start of the COVID-19 emergency. Building on this, Dame Louise Casey is spearheading a Taskforce to lead the next phase of the Government’s support for rough sleepers during this pandemic.

The Taskforce has one overriding objective: to ensure that as many people as possible who have been brought in off the streets in this pandemic do not return to the streets.

We also announced on 24 June that we are providing local authorities with a further £105 million to enable them to best support all those placed into emergency accommodation during the COVID-19 pandemic.

A further £16 million will also be provided so that vulnerable people currently in emergency accommodation can access the specialist help they need for substance misuse issues, in order to rebuild their lives and move towards work and education. This brings the total funding for substance misuse this year to £23 million.

This funding is on top of the £433 million which we announced on 24 May to provide thousands of additional long-term homes for vulnerable rough sleepers. This ambitious commitment will be backed by £160 million this year, ensuring that 6,000 new housing units will be put into the system, with 3,300 of these becoming available over the following 12 months.