Asked by: Chris Bloore (Labour - Redditch)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to improve data-sharing protocols between the Home Office and local authorities regarding individuals leaving asylum accommodation.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office continues to share information to support effective transitions from asylum accommodation. This includes the weekly Discontinuation Prediction Tool, which provides a real-time view of cases entering the discontinuation process and a four-week forward look at the likely volumes of individuals who may seek local authority assistance following a positive decision.
Under the government’s National Plan to End Homelessness strategy the Home Office has made a commitment to ensure all local authorities receive information from asylum accommodation providers for 100% of newly granted refugees at risk of homelessness. We are working closely with partners across the asylum accommodation system to achieve this commitment and improve the timely sharing of information. This will enable local authorities to commence a homelessness assessment which will be received within 2 days of an asylum discontinuation and within 14 days of family reunion visa issuance.
To support this commitment, the Home Office is working with asylum accommodation providers and reviewing its data-sharing arrangements to improve the quality and timeliness of information provided to local authorities, including more consistent and actionable information at the point asylum support is discontinued.
Asked by: Lord Bird (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that temporary and emergency housing landlords make reasonable provision for homeless households with pets when arranging temporary accommodation.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Local authorities must ensure that temporary accommodation is suitable for applicants and members of their household, taking account of their needs, requirements, circumstances and the location of the accommodation. Applicants may ask for a review on request of the housing authority’s decision that the accommodation offered to them is suitable.
The statutory Homelessness Code of Guidance encourages housing authorities to be sensitive to the importance of pets to applicants, particularly people sleeping rough and elderly people who may rely on pets for companionship and to give careful consideration to this aspect when making provision for applicants who wish to retain their pet. Local authorities do their upmost to try and accommodate this, however not all types of temporary or emergency accommodation are suitable for pets, as there may be limited facilities and space available.
Recognising the importance of pets, the Renters’ Rights Act 2025 introduced an implied term into private sector assured tenancies, that enables tenants to ask the landlord for permission to keep a pet, and when they do so consent cannot be unreasonably refused.
No specific assessment has been made of the impact on mental health and wellbeing when people experiencing homelessness are separated from a companion animal in order to have access to accommodation, or the impact that pet policies have on levels of rough sleeping.
Asked by: Lord Bird (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to increase the availability of pet-friendly emergency, temporary, and supported accommodation in England.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Local authorities must ensure that temporary accommodation is suitable for applicants and members of their household, taking account of their needs, requirements, circumstances and the location of the accommodation. Applicants may ask for a review on request of the housing authority’s decision that the accommodation offered to them is suitable.
The statutory Homelessness Code of Guidance encourages housing authorities to be sensitive to the importance of pets to applicants, particularly people sleeping rough and elderly people who may rely on pets for companionship and to give careful consideration to this aspect when making provision for applicants who wish to retain their pet. Local authorities do their upmost to try and accommodate this, however not all types of temporary or emergency accommodation are suitable for pets, as there may be limited facilities and space available.
Recognising the importance of pets, the Renters’ Rights Act 2025 introduced an implied term into private sector assured tenancies, that enables tenants to ask the landlord for permission to keep a pet, and when they do so consent cannot be unreasonably refused.
No specific assessment has been made of the impact on mental health and wellbeing when people experiencing homelessness are separated from a companion animal in order to have access to accommodation, or the impact that pet policies have on levels of rough sleeping.
Asked by: Lord Bird (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact that a lack of pet-friendly emergency and temporary accommodation has on levels of rough sleeping.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Local authorities must ensure that temporary accommodation is suitable for applicants and members of their household, taking account of their needs, requirements, circumstances and the location of the accommodation. Applicants may ask for a review on request of the housing authority’s decision that the accommodation offered to them is suitable.
The statutory Homelessness Code of Guidance encourages housing authorities to be sensitive to the importance of pets to applicants, particularly people sleeping rough and elderly people who may rely on pets for companionship and to give careful consideration to this aspect when making provision for applicants who wish to retain their pet. Local authorities do their upmost to try and accommodate this, however not all types of temporary or emergency accommodation are suitable for pets, as there may be limited facilities and space available.
Recognising the importance of pets, the Renters’ Rights Act 2025 introduced an implied term into private sector assured tenancies, that enables tenants to ask the landlord for permission to keep a pet, and when they do so consent cannot be unreasonably refused.
No specific assessment has been made of the impact on mental health and wellbeing when people experiencing homelessness are separated from a companion animal in order to have access to accommodation, or the impact that pet policies have on levels of rough sleeping.
Asked by: Lord Bird (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact on mental health and wellbeing when people experiencing homelessness are separated from a companion animal in order to have access to accommodation.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Local authorities must ensure that temporary accommodation is suitable for applicants and members of their household, taking account of their needs, requirements, circumstances and the location of the accommodation. Applicants may ask for a review on request of the housing authority’s decision that the accommodation offered to them is suitable.
The statutory Homelessness Code of Guidance encourages housing authorities to be sensitive to the importance of pets to applicants, particularly people sleeping rough and elderly people who may rely on pets for companionship and to give careful consideration to this aspect when making provision for applicants who wish to retain their pet. Local authorities do their upmost to try and accommodate this, however not all types of temporary or emergency accommodation are suitable for pets, as there may be limited facilities and space available.
Recognising the importance of pets, the Renters’ Rights Act 2025 introduced an implied term into private sector assured tenancies, that enables tenants to ask the landlord for permission to keep a pet, and when they do so consent cannot be unreasonably refused.
No specific assessment has been made of the impact on mental health and wellbeing when people experiencing homelessness are separated from a companion animal in order to have access to accommodation, or the impact that pet policies have on levels of rough sleeping.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking to support youth organisations, such as YMCA England and Wales, to develop and deliver affordable and supported housing for young people.
Answered by Florence Eshalomi - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
We have invested over ÂŁ1 billion in homelessness and rough sleeping services this year, which can be used flexibly to address a range of local needs, including support for young people. The Spending Review protects this record level of investment to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping for the next three years.
For young people ready to live independently, we are delivering the biggest increase in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation, backed by the ÂŁ39 billion Social and Affordable Homes Programme. We are also reforming the private rented sector to give more security to tenants, bringing an end to rental bidding, outlawing discrimination against prospective tenants with children or those who receive social security benefits; and preventing landlords from demanding large amounts of rent in advance.
Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what plans are there to evaluate the success of the homelessness strategy.
Answered by Florence Eshalomi - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Monitoring delivery of the strategy is important in ensuring the strategy has its intended impact. That is why we set national targets to track progress against this parliament. More details can be found in this published action plan: Cross-Government Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy: Action Plan.
Ministers are updated regularly on data and are working across government through inter-departmental governance to assure collaborative delivery of the strategy. We will also publish reports at least every two years that monitor progress on the implementation of measures set out in this strategy.
In addition, we intend to evaluate the implementation of the strategy at a local level, building on current work being undertaken this year as part of the systems-wide evaluation being delivered by the Centre for Homelessness Impact.
Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government pursuant to the Answer of 28 August 2026 to Question 18023, on Social Rented Housing: Eligibility, in what circumstances are immigrants who have no recourse to public funds eligible for (a) temporary accommodation and (b) homeless support from local housing authorities.
Answered by Florence Eshalomi - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Eligibility for statutory homelessness assistance from housing authorities is determined by immigration status. In general, an applicant who is a person from abroad with a no recourse to public funds (NRPF) condition will not be eligible for assistance. Guidance on eligibility for homelessness services is set out in Chapter 7 of the Homelessness Code of Guidance Homelessness code of guidance for local authorities - Download this guidance - Guidance - GOV.UK.
Asked by: Samantha Niblett (Labour - South Derbyshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of housing support available to people leaving prison who have engaged extensively with rehabilitation programmes; and whether her Department plans to review guidance to local housing authorities on the eligibility of reformed offenders for access to social housing.
Answered by Florence Eshalomi - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
As part of our National Plan to End Homelessness, we outlined our ambition that no one should leave a public institution into homelessness.
My department is working with the Ministry of Justice to embed partnerships to strengthen pre-release planning and cross-agency work at local levels where it will have the greatest impact. The Ministry of Justice is also committed to continuing investment in its Community Accommodation Service to provide transitional accommodation for those at risk of homelessness on release. That support is alongside my department’s record investment of more than £4 billion in homelessness and rough sleeping over the next three years.
Our National Plan also announced work to update statutory guidance on social housing allocations to ensure that they reflect local need and effectively support vulnerable households.
The review of social housing allocations guidance will consider qualification rules for social housing and how allocation schemes are framed and managed. We are gathering evidence from local authorities, housing providers and other stakeholders, and aim to consult on the updated guidance in early 2027.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate her Department has made of the number and proportion of rough sleepers in (a) London and (b) England who are foreign nationals.
Answered by Florence Eshalomi - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government publishes rough sleeping management information, including data on the nationality of people sleeping rough, how many people sleeping rough have left the armed forces within the last 85 days and the number of people sleeping rough over the course of the month who have moved into accommodation, as well as the number of people sleeping rough over the course of the month who had previously moved into settled accommodation. You can access the latest data on gov.uk here.
As well as this, the government’s analytical annex to our National Plan to End Homelessness includes research about the causes of rough sleeping, which you can find on gov.uk here.