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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to his Department’s press release of 23 June 2020 entitled £105 million to keep rough sleepers safe and off the streets during coronavirus pandemic, what estimate his Department has made of the number of homeless people provided with temporary accommodation through the Everyone In initiative who were (a) women and (b) women with no recourse to public funds.

On 24 June we announced that we are providing local authorities with a further £105 million to enable them to best support the almost 15,000 vulnerable people placed into emergency accommodation during the COVID-19 pandemic. This commitment will help to ensure that as few of these people as possible return to the streets.

On 3 June we published the management information that supports the announcements from Secretary of State and Dame Louise Casey regarding the amount of people accommodated. This management information is collected from over 300 local authorities nationally; however, we do not currently hold a breakdown of the gender of all those who have been assisted.

We are continuing to work with local authorities to further understand the work they are doing to help the most vulnerable in our society. Local authorities hold the most up to date information regarding the number of people they are currently assisting.

The Government is aware of concerns about those with no recourse to public funds experiencing homelessness during the COVID-19 crisis.

We are ensuring local authorities are supported, with £3.2 million of targeted funding previously announced to help support individuals who are sleeping rough off the streets, and an additional £3.7 billion provided to local authorities as part of the wider Government response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This funding has been provided to help local authorities to reduce risks to public health and to support individuals on the basis of need.

The legal position on those with no recourse to public funds has not been amended.

The Government recognises that these are unprecedented times, and expects local authorities to support people who are sleeping rough, and also to minimise unnecessary risks to public health, acting within the law.