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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the implications for family life for those households considered as being at risk of becoming homeless, in the light of the recent report from Shelter.

This Government is committed to preventing and tackling homelessness. England has one of the strongest safety nets in the world that remains in place – protected in law – to ensure that homeless families always have a roof over their heads, and we have increased spending on schemes to prevent homelessness, making over £500 million available to help the most vulnerable in society.

Repossessions are 31 per cent lower than this time last year and are predicted to fall even further. County court mortgage possession claims continue to fall to their lowest point in a decade. This is thanks to our work to tackle the deficit and keep interest rates low, helping more families to stay in their hard earned homes.

We are making home ownership an affordable and accessible prospect through Help to Buy and our work to get Britain building. In the last year alone planning permissions have been granted on 230,000 new homes and we have delivered 200,000 affordable homes since 2010.

And we are introducing measures to ensure tenants can be confident they will get a fair deal. Our How to Rent guide helps tenants know their rights and responsibilities, and letting agents are now required to belong to a redress scheme so landlords and tenants have somewhere to go if they get a raw deal.