Asked by The Lord Bishop of St Albans To ask Her Majesty’s
Government what action they plan to take to address increasing
homelessness and demand for temporary accommodation. The
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Communities
and Local Government and Wales Office (Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth)
(Con) My Lords, we are embarking on...Request free trial
Asked by
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The Lord
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they plan to
take to address increasing homelessness and demand for
temporary accommodation.
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The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for
Communities and Local Government and Wales Office (Lord
Bourne of Aberystwyth) (Con)
My Lords, we are embarking on an ambitious programme in
relation to homelessness which places prevention right at
its heart. We are implementing the most ambitious
legislative reform in decades—the Homelessness Reduction
Act—and we have allocated over £1 billion to tackle
homelessness and rough sleeping, through to 2020. This
includes a flexible homelessness support grant, which local
authorities can use strategically to tackle homelessness in
their areas, including for the provision of temporary
accommodation.
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The Lord
I thank the noble Lord for his Answer. Night shelters and
homelessness charities in my diocese are speaking about the
huge pressure they are currently under. National Audit
Office statistics suggest that the problem has increased
nationally from 1,800 rough sleepers in 2010 to 4,000 this
year. Given that rise, do Her Majesty’s Government consider
that local authorities will have sufficient funding to meet
their legal obligations under the Homelessness Reduction
Act, which the Minister just spoke of, when it comes into
force next year?
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My Lords, first, I thank the right reverend Prelate for all
that he does in his diocese. I know that the St Albans
Sleepout on Friday 1 December—which was not actually at the
cathedral this year because of building work—does much to
publicise and tackle this problem in St Albans. He is
absolutely right that this has become a more serious
problem. It is now affecting rural as well as urban areas
of England. That is why we have put this very much at the
centre of the Government’s and department’s thinking, with
the aim of reducing homelessness by 50% by 2022 and
eliminating it totally by 2027. We have put resources into
this: £50 million was announced very recently.
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(CB)
Can Her Majesty’s Government look at the human rights abuse
that allows people to sleep on the streets? Maybe we need to
revisit the old legislation whereby we do not allow people to
sleep on the streets but provide places for them off the
streets, rather than putting them in prison as we used to. We
have an emergency on our hands; we need to remove people from
the streets and put them in a place of safety. That should be
at the top of the Minister’s list.
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My Lords, I thank the noble Lord very much indeed for his
contribution in this area—not just in the House but very much
outside it. I take his comments seriously. As he rightly
says, prevention is at the heart of this complex issue. It is
clearly not a simple issue: this country has faced this
problem over a period of time. As I say, it is very much at
the centre of the Government’s thinking and all agencies
contribute to it. We have trailblazer areas looking at this,
and Crisis and Shelter, for example, are on our advisory
committee. Rough sleeping is something that the Government
are very much committed to ending.
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(Lab)
My Lords, I am sure the Minister will recognise that some of
us are deeply underwhelmed by the ambition to reduce
homelessness by only half by 2022. We were able to reduce
rough sleeping by two-thirds between 1998 and 2000, and we
know what needs to be done. There needs to be proper
accommodation for rough sleepers, and he should know every
night what is available and how many more rough sleepers
there are than beds available. There also needs to be mental
health and detox support. This is not unknown territory or a
secret. We know how to sort it. Why do the Government not
just get on and do it so that people are safer?
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My Lords, as the noble Baroness went on, she began to exhibit
just how complex an issue this is. It is not simple. It is an
issue partly to do with addiction and with mental health, and
partly about people coming out of secure environments such as
the forces and prisons. We are working with the Ministries of
Defence and Justice, which are central to this. It is not a
small ambition to halve homelessness by 2022 and eliminate it
totally by 2027. I look forward to seeing support and ideas
from around the House on how we can tackle a very complex
issue.
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(LD)
My Lords, does the Minister agree with the UK Statistics
Authority that a complete picture on homelessness must
include prevention and relief in addition to statutory
homelessness? Will he commit to include in any future change
in data people who are in work but sleeping rough or in
temporary accommodation—as astonishing as those the figures
are, as shown on Channel 4 last night?
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My Lords, I very much regret that I did not have the
privilege of seeing that programme last night but I will try
to catch up on it. It is a complex issue, as the noble
Baroness rightly says. It is not just about looking at the
statistics, as she will know, but at what is happening in
communities up and down the country. Last Friday, I was in
Chesterfield seeing what is happening there, a town that is
not a metropolitan area, and finding that agencies are
engaged in tackling it, as is the faith community.
Interestingly, the noble Lord, , will be pleased to know
that the vicar of Chesterfield was formerly a Catholic and
has become a Protestant. The noble Lord might like to engage
with him to find out some of what he has been doing. It is
important to engage all the institutions. I will certainly go
back and have a look at the point that the noble Baroness
made about the statistics.
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(Lab
Co-op)
My Lords, I refer the House to my relevant local government
interests in the register. On entering this Palace from
Westminster tube station, you will see homeless people. When
walking from Victoria and Waterloo stations, you will see
homeless people sitting in doorways. Every evening, opposite
Charing Cross station, you will see hundreds of homeless
people being fed soup and bread. Homelessness has risen by
50% in the last two years. Does the noble Lord not accept
some responsibility for this tragedy which is occurring in
one of the richest countries in the world? It rests with this
Government and the policies they have pursued.
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My Lords, first, the noble Lord is absolutely right: this has
been a problem in the centre of the capital for some time, as
he will appreciate. I am not minimising that but it is not
new; what is new is the spread of this problem throughout the
country, as I have indicated. It now affects many rural
communities and smaller towns up and down the country. I
certainly acknowledge that this problem needs to be tackled,
as I have indicated. It needs to be tackled at local
authority and governmental level and demands all of our
attention, including the noble Lord’s. Certainly I take my
share of the blame but I think this is something to which we
can all contribute. Faith communities and the voluntary
sector are helping, the Government have a role, and so do
local authorities. It is something with which we all need to
engage rather than finger-point.
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