Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he is taking to support Durham County Council to deliver a Housing First approach to address long term homelessness.

The Government recognises that local authorities are best placed to make decisions on what local services they provide based on local priorities and circumstances, including designing and delivering Housing First projects where appropriate. We are investing over £2 billion over three years in tackling homelessness and rough sleeping. Funding allocated to Durham for locally led initiatives includes over £680,000 in funding directly to the Durham Unitary Authority through the Rough Sleeping Initiative 2022-25, a further just under £3.8 million as part of a Durham-led joint funding award across the North-East, over £3 million (originally allocated) to County Durham through the Rough Sleeping Accommodation Programme, and over £4 million through the Single Homelessness Accommodation Programme.

We have also published a Mobilising Housing First toolkit to support local areas seeking to develop Housing First projects, which is available here: Housing First Pilot: national evaluation reports - GOV.UK