Asked by: Lord Gilbert of Panteg (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government, in light of the press release New PM says government can bring back hope to Britain, and launches drive to end rough sleeping at the earliest opportunity, published on 20 July, whether additional funding has been allocated to the MHCLG budget over and above (1) its existing spending review settlement, and (2) planned homelessness funding; what is the profile of the announced £340 million funding in each individual year; and whether any other programmes have been reprofiled or deprioritised to finance the rough sleeping programme.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Spending Review 2025 set MHCLG’s departmental budgets until 2028-29 for resource spending and 2029-30 for capital investment. No additional funding has been allocated to MHCLG beyond that settlement for this announcement. We have already provided record levels of funding to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping. The £340 million is from within existing MHCLG budgets that had not yet been committed to specific spending plans. This means that the announcement does not require the reprofiling or reprioritisation of programmes already underway. The profile of the £340 million will be finalised in due course.
Asked by: Lord Caine (Conservative - 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 implications for Northern Ireland of the Prime Minister's stated intention to end rough sleeping across the United Kingdom.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Housing and homelessness policy and legislation are devolved matters. The Northern Ireland Executive is responsible for homelessness policy, legislation and services in Northern Ireland, including the development of its own homelessness strategies. MHCLG's homelessness strategy applies to England only.
We continue to engage with counterparts in the devolved administrations to share learning and discuss issues of common interest, including homelessness.
Asked by: Lord Blencathra (Conservative - 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 reasons for any increase in the number of households living in temporary accommodation; and what estimate they have made of the cost of temporary accommodation to local authorities in the current financial year.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government inherited a homelessness crisis, and recognises that the number of households in temporary accommodation has increased in recent years. On 31 December 2025, 134,210 households were in temporary accommodation, including 85,800 households with children (see published temporary accommodation statistics here.
As set out in the National Plan to End Homelessness, this reflects a combination of factors, including a lack of affordable housing, rising poverty, reduced focus on prevention and wider pressures across public services.
The Department does not produce an estimate of the total cost of temporary accommodation to local authorities for the current financial year. Published Local Government Finance returns provide data on local authority expenditure in previous years. In 2024/25, Local authorities’ net expenditure on temporary accommodation in England was £1.43 billion.
The government is providing £969 million of temporary accommodation funding to local authorities over the period 2026/27 to 2028/29 through the Local Government Finance Settlement, using the new Fair Funding Assessment, which includes a formula reflecting proportional need for temporary accommodation across the country. In addition, the government is investing £950 million through the fourth round of the Local Authority Housing Fund to increase the supply of good-quality temporary accommodation.
Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester Rusholme)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the impact of levels of Local Housing Allowance on a) poverty b) homelessness among Universal Credit claimants in Manchester Rusholme.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government) (Equalities)
The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions reviewed Local Housing Allowance at the 2025 Autumn Budget and announced that rates would be maintained at their current levels for 2026/27. A range of factors, such as rent levels across the country and poverty impacts, were considered against the fiscal context and the level of housing support that Government provides overall.
The causes of homelessness are multi-faceted and often complex. The Department for Work and Pensions continues to work closely with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to make sure interactions with homelessness are considered.
Renters receiving housing support who face a shortfall in meeting their rent costs can apply for a Crisis and Resilience Fund Housing Payment from local authorities in England.
Asked by: Ann Davies (Plaid Cymru - Caerfyrddin)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the decision not to uprate Local Housing Allowance on poverty (a) before and (b) after housing costs, particularly for households in Wales.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
DWP is committed to delivering for the people of Wales. It is important that the UK Government considers the specific impacts of policy changes in Wales, and the interaction with the devolved matter on housing. Officials continue to engage with counterparts in the Welsh Government, and with Welsh stakeholders, to understand these interactions.
As part of the decision not to increase LHA rates, a number of factors were considered, including rent levels in Wales, interactions with poverty and homelessness, overall housing support, and the wider fiscal context.
For those who need further support, Discretionary Housing Payments (DHPs) are available from local authorities in Wales.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of access to temporary accommodation for vulnerable households.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Homelessness Code of Guidance sets out the statutory duties of local housing authorities in England to help prevent and relieve homelessness. Where homelessness cannot be prevented, local authorities have a duty to provide temporary accommodation to households that are eligible, unintentionally homeless and in priority need. You can access the Code of Guidance on gov.uk here.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, for a breakdown of the programme gross spend and income of RDEL in the Housing and Planning Estimate Line in FY 2024/5, with reference to MHCLG's Annual Report 2024/5, SoPS 1.1.
Answered by Samantha Dixon
The Annual Report and Accounts 2024-25 reports the figures for both spend and income across all Estimate Lines. For the Housing and Planning Estimate Line in SoPS 1.1, total gross expenditure is stated as £1.583bn with the major items of expenditure, and corresponding links for further information, as follows:
Expenditure
For the Housing and Planning Estimate Line in SoPS 1.1, income is stated as £0.033bn. The main item of income is from the Planning Inspectorate, and further detail can be found here:
Income:
Asked by: Shockat Adam (Independent - Leicester South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the impact of levels of Local Housing Allowance on a) poverty b) homelessness among Universal Credit claimants in Leicester South.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government) (Equalities)
The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions reviewed Local Housing Allowance (LHA) at the 2025 Autumn Budget and announced that rates would be maintained at their current levels for 2026/27. A range of factors, such as rent levels across the country and poverty impacts, were considered against the fiscal context, including the level of housing support that Government provides overall.
LHA rates are reviewed annually and future decisions on LHA will be taken in the context of the Government’s welfare priorities, and the fiscal context.
Renters receiving housing support who face a shortfall in meeting their rent costs can apply for the Crisis and Resilience Fund Housing Payment from local authorities in England.
The causes of homelessness are multi-faceted and often complex; they interact dynamically making it difficult to isolate the relative importance of individual factors. DWP continues to work closely with MHCLG on interactions with homelessness.
Asked by: Ann Davies (Plaid Cymru - Caerfyrddin)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of trends in the levels of homelessness among Universal Credit claimants since Local Housing Allowance was last uprated.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government) (Equalities)
The causes of homelessness are multi-faceted and often complex and they interact dynamically DWP continues to work closely with MHCLG on interactions with homelessness.
The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions reviewed Local Housing Allowance (LHA) at the 2025 Autumn Budget and announced that rates would be maintained at their current levels for 2026/27. A range of factors, such as rent levels across the country, were considered against the fiscal context, including the level of housing support that Government provides overall.
Renters receiving housing support who face a shortfall in meeting their rent costs can apply for discretionary support from local authorities via the Crisis and Resilience Fund Housing Payments in England and Discretionary Housing Payments in Wales.
Asked by: Connor Naismith (Labour - Crewe and Nantwich)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the extent to which homelessness affects access to elective and planned medical procedures; and what steps his Department is taking, including in collaboration with the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government, to ensure that patients are not prevented from receiving necessary treatment due to a lack of suitable accommodation for recovery.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson
Ill health can be both a cause and consequence of homelessness; the health and wellbeing of people who experience homelessness are poorer than the general population and people who have experienced rough sleeping die decades sooner than those who have not. We recognise the importance of understanding how housing insecurity can affect health outcomes and access to care and are working to tackle these and all other health inequalities including through our 10-Year Health Plan.
No one eligible for homelessness assistance should be discharged to the street after a hospital stay, as outlined in the Government's National Plan to End Homelessness and our published guidance, Discharging people at risk of or experiencing homelessness. To help make this happen, every acute hospital has access to a multidisciplinary care transfer hub to manage the discharge of people with more complex needs. These teams work together to plan a person’s discharge, so their health and care needs as well as housing situation are all considered, and the right support is in place when they leave hospital. We are also working with councils and integrated care boards (ICBs) to improve how existing funding streams can be used to fund intermediate care services tailored for those experiencing homelessness, to improve continuity of care and access to post-discharge rehabilitation, recovery and reablement. We are working very closely with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government in this area.
Public bodies specified under the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017 including hospitals, emergency departments and social services have a duty to refer service users who they think may be homeless or threatened with homelessness to local authority homelessness/housing options teams. To build on this, the Government is committing to a new Duty to Collaborate which will strengthen and improve co-operation, early identification and information sharing between health, housing, and social care services.
NHS England recommends consideration of specialist intermediate care pathways for those at risk of or experiencing homelessness; this is set out in the guidance, Intermediate care framework for rehabilitation, reablement and recovery following hospital discharge.
The Government has not made a formal assessment of the extent to which homelessness affects access to elective and planned medical procedures. We are seeking to improve data collection in this area, however. As part of the Government’s plan, Reforming Elective Care for Patients, NHS England's plan to reform elective services, ICBs and National Health Service providers is expected to improve the completeness and accuracy of coding and recording practices, including housing status coding, through the use of relevant SNOMED codes, a standardised clinical coding system used in health records. NHS England's Statement on information on health inequalities also reiterates the expectation that ICBs, trusts and foundation trusts should consider how recording housing status can support the upstream identification of health inequalities, in line with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s guideline on integrated health and care for people experiencing homelessness.