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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what support he is providing to (a) homeless children and (b) children in temporary accommodation.

The use of temporary accommodation means people are getting help and ensures no family is without a roof over their head.

Any accommodation secured by a local authority for a homeless household must meet the standards in ‘The homelessness code of guidance,’ which sets out in detail what the authority must take into account when considering the accommodation’s suitability for a homeless household.

The code of guidance can be accessed here:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/homelessness-code-of-guidance-for-local-authorities.

Reducing the number of households in temporary accommodation is a priority for this Government and we have allocated over £1.2 billion over the last three years to tackle all forms of homelessness. This includes:

• Implementing the Homelessness Reduction Act;
• Providing a Flexible Homelessness Support Grant for homelessness services; and
• The Private Rented Sector Access Fund that will enable thousands of households to be supported into long-term private rented accommodation; and
• Launching Capital Letters, a project which works with London Boroughs through a centralised procurement process to improve the supply of homes, reduce the cost to local authorities of procuring these homes and achieve better outcomes of homeless families.