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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what plans he has to allocate additional funding to areas with the highest levels of homelessness.

In 2020/2021 we are providing £437 million to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping. This marks a £69 million increase in funding from the previous year. Funding given to local authorities seeks to address local homelessness and rough sleeping variation and is allocated according to demand in their area.

Examples of targeting funding in accordance with levels of homelessness for 2020/21 is evidenced through our three main funding streams:

• The Homelessness Reduction Grant. The £63 million fund provides an uplift on previous years’ new burdens funding to implement the Homelessness Reduction Act and will enable local authorities to do more to prevent and relieve homelessness in their areas. The new burdens funding is allocated to take account of variation in relevant homelessness costs around the country.
• The Rough Sleeping initiative: £112 million fund for 2020/21 (an increase of £26 million on 2019/20 funding) which combines the Rough Sleeping Initiative and the Rapid Rehousing Pathway into a single, streamlined funding stream is designed to support the establishment or enhancement of coordinated local services for rough sleepers, or those at risk of sleeping rough. The fund was open to all local authorities who supplied bids to address local homelessness and rough sleeping levels.
• The Flexible Homelessness Support Grant of £200 million which seeks to help local authorities plan and respond to their local homelessness pressures. The formula for Flexible Homelessness Support Grant is designed to distribute the funding according to levels of homelessness, family size and housing costs in the area.

We are also funding:

• Housing First pilots to provide rough sleepers with the most complex needs stable and affordable accommodation with intensive wrap-around support to help them recover from complex issues and sustain their tenancies.
• London Collaboration Project which aims to become the main source of private rented sector accommodation to prevent and relieve homelessness in London.
• A number of smaller pilots/funding streams such as the Offender Accommodation Pilot and Rough Sleeping Social Impact Bond.