LGA responds to statutory homelessness annual report for 2019/20

Responding to the Statutory Homelessness Annual Report 2019/20 for England showing 288,470 households were owed a homelessness prevention or relief duty in 2019/20, a 14.9 per cent increase on the year before, Cllr David Renard, Local Government Association housing spokesperson, said:

“These figures highlight the increased demand pressures on councils as they strive to provide homelessness support and underlines the urgent need for these services to be adequately funded.

“The long-term impact of coronavirus on council homelessness services, which were already under significant pressures before the pandemic, is currently unclear. It is vital that the Spending Review shifts the Government’s focus towards the key drivers of homelessness, including a lack of affordable housing, welfare-related poverty, and a lack of an integrated prevention approach.

“This means government investment in homelessness prevention, giving councils the powers to build the desperately-needed new generation of social housing the country needs and ensuring that the role of the local safety net is adequately resourced.”