LGA responds to homelessness funding announcement

Responding to the Prime Minister’s funding announcement of £260 million for local authority homelessness services, Cllr David Renard, Local Government Association housing spokesman, said:

“Today’s announcement shows that the Government has listened to our calls and continued to fund homelessness services. Behind every instance of homelessness lies an individual tragedy and councils want to work with the new government to prevent this from happening in the first place and support those affected.

“Councils are doing all they can to tackle homelessness, providing temporary housing for over 84,000 households, including 126,000 children.

“With greater funding and powers, such as the ability to keep all Right to Buy receipts and set discounts locally, councils can resume their role as historic builders of affordable homes and do just that.

“Restoring Local Housing Allowance rates to cover at least the lowest third of market rents when the current freeze ends in 2020 would also protect families in the private rented sector at risk of becoming homeless.”