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.
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 steps his Department is taking to ensure that patients experiencing homelessness are able to access planned medical treatment, including surgery, where a lack of stable accommodation may otherwise prevent procedures from going ahead; and whether he has assessed the impact of housing insecurity on patients being delayed or excluded from non-emergency care.
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.
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, how much funding he has allocated for homelessness prevention programmes in the current financial year.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
To support local authorities, we have introduced significant reforms to how we deliver funding to local authorities, to provide multi-year certainty and greater flexibility for them to be able to tailor services to meet local needs.
The government is providing £3.6 billion funding for homelessness services from 2026/27 to 2028/29, including just over £2.2 billion for local authorities to prevent and address homelessness and rough sleeping through the Homelessness, Rough Sleeping and Domestic Abuse Grant. £969m of Temporary accommodation funding, previously part of the Homelessness Prevention Grant is distributed using the new Fair Funding Assessment which, with a new built-in formula now also reflects proportional need for temporary accommodation across the country. You can find out more about how allocations were made here.
In addition to the ringfenced Homelessness and Rough Sleeping and Domestic Abuse Grant, local authorities are able to draw from their wider funding in the Local Government Finance Settlement to support deliver homelessness and rough sleeping outcomes.
You can find local authority level allocations on gov.uk here.
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 steps his Department is taking to support local authorities to tackle homelessness.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Homelessness is a devolved issue, and the government set out our plans to tackle homelessness in England through the National Plan to End Homelessness in December 2025, which you can find on gov.uk here.
Our Plan sets out a credible plan to get back on track to ending homelessness, including medium-term change to support local authorities and public services to shift from crisis to prevention through cross government targets, £3.6 billion funding for homelessness and rough sleeping services over the next 3 years and new duties on services to work together to prevent homelessness.
In the short-term, we are taking action to tackle the worst forms of temporary accommodation and supporting local authorities to develop better alternatives by ending the unlawful use of B&Bs for families and continuing to work with local authorities with the highest use of B&B accommodation over the next through years through an expanded Emergency Accommodation Reduction Programme backed by £30 million funding.
We will also halve long-term rough sleeping by the end of this parliament, including through £159 million new funding for supported housing, £37 million for voluntary, community and faith organisations, and £15 million for councils to test new approaches.