LGA responds to Written Ministerial Statement on additional homelessness support

Responding to the announcement of a £50 million top up to the Homelessness Prevention Grant for the current financial year, Cllr David Renard, housing spokesperson for the Local Government Association, said:

“This additional funding will provide some much-needed support for local authorities to help prevent vulnerable households from becoming homeless this winter.

“As the number of ‘no fault’ eviction notices handed out increases, the cost of living rises and as more Ukrainian arrivals present as homeless, councils are increasingly concerned of a national homelessness crisis. These pressures, combined with depleting social housing stock and an unaffordable and overly competitive private rented market, still feels like a perfect storm for services trying to prevent homelessness.

“The best way to improve housing security is to address the unaffordability of housing by giving councils the right powers and investment to build 100,000 new social rent homes a year, and to reform the Right to Buy scheme so that it is more sustainable. Government should also urgently review Local Housing Allowance rates to ensure that at least a third of the market is affordable for people claiming housing related benefits.”