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 potential merits of providing additional support for London councils to support homeless people during the winter.

We are committed to make sure that rough sleepers will be offered the support they need to get off the streets and are protected from the cold this winter.

We are providing over £70 million to support rough sleeping services in London this year through the Rough Sleeping Initiative 2021/22.

On top of the significant Rough Sleeping Initiative investment, the Winter Pressures Fund (WPF) was announced on 29 October 2021 as part of a wider winter funding announcement. WPF is a £10 million fund targeted to 35 local authorities, 16 of them in London, who have the highest numbers of rough sleepers, from the 2020 Rough Sleeper Snapshot, or the highest number of un-housed non-UK nationals.

DLUHC have and continue working closely with London councils, and the Greater London Authority, and we are discussing with both of them the provision of pan-London winter capacity.

The Department is providing over £71.5 million across Greater London, this is more than a 100% increase from the £34.6 million provided in 20/21 and is providing over 2,800 bed spaces and more than 700 support staff.