Temporary Accommodation: Public Expenditure

(asked on 9th November 2022) - View Source

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to reduce the cost to the public purse of Government spending on temporary accommodation.


Answered by
Felicity Buchan Portrait
Felicity Buchan
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
This question was answered on 16th November 2022

Detailed information on local authority revenue expenditure and financing can be found here.

Local authorities have received £316 million through the Homelessness Prevention Grant in 2022/23, helping them to prevent homelessness and help more people sooner. This is on top of the £375 million Homelessness Prevention Grant funding local authorities received in 2021/22.

Local authorities should avoid placing households out of their borough. In some areas where there is a limited supply of suitable accommodation, we are aware that it can be necessary to place households in temporary accommodation outside of the local area. This, however, should be as a last resort.

The Statutory Homelessness Statistics show that in 2021 there were a total of 105,360 households placed in temporary accommodation outside their area. The most recent publication of January - March 2022 show there was 26,620 households placed in temporary accommodation outside their area during that quarter.

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