Asked by
To ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of
the impact on local government finance of increasing demand for
emergency and temporary accommodation.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for
Levelling Up, Housing & Communities () (Con)
Local authorities deliver vital homelessness services and we
recognise that the increasing demand for temporary accommodation
places pressures on councils. That is why, taking together the
2022-23 and 2023-24 local government finance settlements, we have
increased the funding available to local government in England in
real terms. In addition, we are providing over £1 billion to
councils over three years through the homelessness prevention
grant.
(Lab)
My Lords, I welcome the Minister to her new role and greatly look
forward to working with her. Please can we express our very best
wishes to the noble Baroness, Lady Scott, for her continuing
recovery?
There has been a rapid and dramatic increase in homelessness,
with over 104,000 households currently in temporary
accommodation—the highest number since records began in 1998.
This created a budget pressure of £1.6 billion for councils in
2021-22. So many well-respected sector experts, including the
Local Government Association, the District Councils’ Network,
Citizens Advice, Crisis and London Councils, have made
representations to the Chancellor in advance of the Autumn
Statement, pointing out that the key drivers of this increase are
the failure to upgrade local housing allowance in line with
inflation and a spike in Section 21 evictions. What assessment
have the Government carried out of the impact of the freeze on
local housing allowance?
(Con)
My Lords, as with all benefits, we keep the local housing
allowance under review. The noble Baroness also mentioned Section
21 evictions, which, as she knows, are being reformed through the
forthcoming Renters (Reform) Bill that is making its way through
the other place and which we will see here shortly. I return her
welcome and look forward to working with her across the Dispatch
Box. I also look forward to my noble friend Lady Scott joining me
back on the Front Benches soon.
(LD)
My Lords, throwing asylum seekers out of hotel accommodation at
short notice only moves the issue to local councils, which are
legally obliged to accommodate asylum seekers while their asylum
applications are processed. What assessment have the Government
made of the total cost of this unacceptable cost-shunting to
local authorities?
(Con)
My Lords, I would not agree with the noble Lord’s
characterisation of the situation at all. While people’s asylum
applications are being processed, they are in Home
Office-provided accommodation. Some of that accommodation is
hotel accommodation, which is in no one’s interest—not that of
the people who are accommodated there nor that of the taxpayer.
The Government are working hard to reduce the backlog in asylum
applications and to move people on from hotel accommodation. My
department is working closely with the Home Office and local
councils to make sure that that process is as smooth as
possible.
The Lord Speaker ()
My Lords, is participating
remotely.
(Lab) [V]
Why should people pay inflated rents to private landlords who are
coining it in conditions of scarcity? Is not the answer to secure
selectively land for housing development at agricultural prices,
as has happened in parts of Europe, in particular Germany, and to
back up that land purchase policy with a mass building programme
of housing for both rent and purchase, but under a new form of
title which restricts speculative gains and yet protects the
value of freehold title? Speculative markets in land are denying
millions a home.
(Con)
My Lords, I believe that part of the solution to this problem is
an increase in supply and quality in the private rented sector,
which our Renters (Reform) Bill will help to deliver, and also in
the affordable housing and social housing sectors. That is why
this Government have put so much money into the affordable
housing programme, to increase the supply of that housing and
relieve the pressure that we see on temporary accommodation.
(Lab)
Following on from the question asked by the noble Lord, , will the Minister impress on
her colleagues in the Home Office the urgent need to review the
current operation of the move-on period for newly recognised
refugees, which is forcing many of them into rough sleeping and
homelessness? They have been given as little as seven days’
notice to quit their Home Office asylum accommodation, with
serious knock-on effects on local authorities also.
(Con)
As I said to the noble Lord, , my department is working
closely with the Home Office and local councils to ensure that
the process for moving people on from hotel accommodation is as
smooth as possible. As I also said, we recognise that the work
that we are doing successfully to reduce the backlog in asylum
claims puts pressure on other parts of the system, which is why
we have increased resources there too.
Both the noble Lord, , and the noble Baroness, Lady
Lister, have raised the really troubling issue of asylum seekers
leaving accommodation and being made homeless. In the
Government’s strategy, Ending Rough Sleeping for Good, there was
talk about having a transparent and joined-up system. What plans
do His Majesty’s Government have to ensure that homelessness
policy and asylum policy are working together so that we can
minimise this dreadful problem?
(Con)
My Lords, as I have said, my department is working closely with
the Home Office and local authorities on this issue. Local
authorities have already moved thousands of families out of
bridging accommodation and into long-term accommodation. We are
also providing £750 million to the local authority housing fund,
which is being used to buy or create new housing stock to
accommodate, for example, Ukrainian and Afghan refugees who have
been offered refuge here and now need somewhere to move on to.
But it will also help to improve temporary accommodation for
families owed a homelessness duty. That is an example of some of
the longer-term action that we are seeking to take to alleviate
some of these pressures.
(CB)
Are the Government thinking of supporting prefab houses, and if
not, why not?
(Con)
My Lords, the Government are a big supporter of modern methods of
construction, which I think is the broad equivalent of prefab
houses. We seek to see more houses built using those methods of
construction. As the noble and learned Baroness knows, it can be
a very efficient way in which to produce new homes.
(Con)
I welcome my noble friend to her new role. I suspect that every
Member of your Lordships’ House is aware that there is a chronic
shortage of accommodation and in the supply of social housing.
Against that background, now that she is in a position to have a
look at the whole of this area, I hope my noble friend takes time
to do that, and see in particular whether we can bring forward
more social housing to address the huge need that we have at this
difficult time.
(Con)
My noble friend is absolutely right that there are a number of
different actions that we need to take to address homelessness.
We have the action on homelessness prevention strategy and the
rough sleeping strategy; that is backed by more than £2 billion
over three years, in addition to the increase in councils’ core
budgets that I mentioned at the beginning. But we also need to
look at the underlying supply of affordable and social homes,
which is why we have the affordable homes programme in place. We
are committed that that will continue to deliver large increases
in the number of affordable homes available in this country.
(Lab)
My Lords, last year, local authorities spent £1.5 billion on
temporary accommodation, which is up by 9% from the previous
years. This is just one of the reasons that so many councils are
on the brink of bankruptcy. When will this nightmare come to an
end? It is cut after cut, since 2010. When will it end, and when
will local government get some help?
(Con)
The noble Lord talks about cut after cut. Since 2019, local
authorities have had a real-terms increase in their core spending
power, taking into account higher levels of inflation than
anticipated at the time. In addition to that, we have provided
money for the homelessness prevention grant and the rough
sleeping strategy, and in addition to that we have provided the
£750 million that I referred to in answer to the right reverend
Prelate to begin to address some of the longer-term solutions to
how we address housing supply in our country.
(Lab)
My Lords, there are avenues that the Government are not
exploring. We have an increasing amount of retail accommodation
which is now empty and an increasing amount of office space in
many cities which is not being utilised. What is the Government’s
policy around trying to put that to good social purpose? Why are
they not thinking about trying to create public-private
partnerships to use those, rather than worrying too much about
looking to new builds?
(Con)
My Lords, I believe that that is the case. The Government are
committed to revitalising our high streets, whether that is
rejuvenating existing commercial property or making the best use
of it in the local circumstances.
