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

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support people at risk of homelessness.

The Government is committed to ending rough sleeping and preventing homelessness.

The Homelessness Reduction Act, the most ambitious reform to homelessness legislation in decades, came into force in April 2018. It places duties on local housing authorities to take reasonable steps to try to prevent and relieve a person's homelessness. For the first time, local authorities and other public bodies must work together to prevent homelessness for people at risk.

Acting earlier and for a broader range of people means more people will get the help they need before they face a homelessness crisis. Since the Act came into force, over 375,000 households have had their homelessness successfully prevented or relieved through securing accommodation for more than 6 months.

We have provided local authorities with £375 million this year through the Homelessness Prevention Grant (HPG), which represents a £112 million increase on the previous year's funding, to give them the funding they need to prevent homelessness and help more people sooner. This includes an exceptional top up to the HPG for this financial year with an additional £65 million for local authorities to help vulnerable households with rent arrears to reduce the risk of them being evicted and becoming homeless. This is part of more than £750 million being spent on tackling homelessness and rough sleeping in 2021/22.