Asked by
The Lord
To ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of
the impact on local authority finances caused by the rising cost
of temporary accommodation.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for
Levelling Up, Housing & Communities () (Con)
My Lords, local authorities deliver vital homelessness services,
and we recognise the pressure that the cost of temporary
accommodation places on councils. As we announced recently, total
core spending power for councils in England will rise by 7.5% for
2023-24 to 2024-25—an above-inflation increase. In addition, we
are providing more than £1 billion over three years to councils
through the homelessness prevention grant, with a further £120
million UK-wide funding in 2024-25, announced at Autumn
Statement, to help prevent homelessness.
The Lord
I thank the Minister for that Answer. I recently visited a
secondary school in Manchester which now has to make significant
bespoke provision out of its school budget for pupils who are
living in bed and breakfast hotels. Those students are only a
tiny fraction of nearly 140,000 children in temporary
accommodation, which represents a 14% rise in the last year. What
assessment, if any, have the Government made of this issue? Will
the Minister commit to improving the data available so that the
impact of living in temporary accommodation on children,
particularly on their education, can be fully understood, and
local authorities can be supported to enable their schools to
address and minimise it?
(Con)
I thank the right reverend Prelate for that question. No one
wants to see families with children in temporary accommodation,
and I am sure that every local authority across the country is
doing everything they can to stop it happening. But sometimes, in
emergency situations, it is important for the short term that
those families have a roof over their head, a safe and secure
place to go. We continue to work with the Local Government
Association and local authorities on how many there are in such
accommodation, and what more we can do—for instance, stopping
people going into temporary accommodation in the first place.
With the £1 billion grant for local authority homelessness
prevention, we can also start to improve the quality of any
temporary accommodation that we might have to use.
(Con)
My Lords, the right reverend Prelate is quite right to draw
attention to the pressure on local authority budgets. Given the
hundreds of millions of pounds that we are spending on
accommodating illegal migrants, might a possible solution for the
right reverend Prelate and his colleagues be to go through
Division Lobbies and support the Rwanda Bill?
(Con)
My Lords, I do not think that is within this Question. I will
leave it to my noble friend to fight his corner on that one.
(CB)
My Lords, many housing associations have been encouraged to
develop homes for shared ownership, yet current trends illustrate
that there has been a reduction in applications for this type of
accommodation due to increases in mortgage rates and concerns
regarding responsibility for maintenance—relating to the Grenfell
Tower event. Can the Minister say whether capital could be made
available for councils to purchase some of those empty properties
and reduce temporary accommodation used for families?
(Con)
Through their powers, local authorities can look to purchase
accommodation. In the last two Budgets, we have given special
dispensation to local councils, first, on special borrowing and,
secondly, on their moneys from the right to buy. It is up to
local authorities to look at the ways they can provide those
houses, but I will take that back to the department as an
idea.
(LD)
My Lords, as the Minister has rightly said, the Government are
allocating £1 billion to reduce homelessness. Unfortunately, it
is clearly not working, as homelessness is at a 25-year high,
with the result that local authorities have to spend increasing
proportions of their budget on their statutory duty—which they
want to undertake—to house people without a home. For example,
Eastbourne Borough Council has an annual budget of £15 million
but is spending £4.9 million each year on its statutory homeless
duty. That is not sustainable. What are the Government to do?
(Con)
As I have said, on 24 January, the Government announced
additional measures for local authority funding worth £600
million, including £500 million of new funding for adult and
children’s social care. It means that core spending powers will
be up by £4.5 billion next year. This is what we are doing to
help local authorities with all the pressures on their budgets at
this time.
(Lab)
My Lords, local councils across the UK have warned that they are
increasingly facing bankruptcy because of the rising cost of
preventing homelessness. The National Housing Federation predicts
that the number of children living in temporary accommodation
will rise from 131,000 to 310,000 by 2045. It says that social
housing waiting lists will grow to 1.8 million households by
2045—an increase of more than 50%. What practical steps are the
Government taking to tackle the tremendous cost of temporary
accommodation and homelessness?
(Con)
I think I have already answered most of that. We have increased
the amount of money going to the base budgets of local
authorities across the country this year. We are giving money to
prevent homelessness—which is as important as dealing with the
issue. As I have said, we are giving money to councils so that
they can build better properties and access better temporary
accommodation. We are doing all we can in what has been quite a
difficult economic climate. However, we are coming out of it,
things are beginning to look better, and houses are being
built.
(Con)
My Lords, my noble friend will not be surprised to hear that I
think we should be building a lot more houses. In the meantime,
should we not consider amending the Renters (Reform) Bill, now in
another place, to increase substantially the amount of long-term
institutional investment in private renting and relieve some of
the pressures on the market that we have been hearing about?
(Con)
My noble friend is absolutely right. The Government will support
institutional investment in the private sector as well as in the
social rented sector, provided, of course, that they stick to the
rules and we can regulate them. That includes Build to Rent
homes, which can boost supply and drive up standards. We are
offering support through the £1.5 billion levelling up home
building fund being delivered through Homes England to provide
loans, equity investment and joint ventures to encourage such
institutional investment companies and to support new Build to
Rent developments. I think they will be a growing part of the
market.
(CB)
My Lords, I declare an interest as chair of the Devon Housing
Commission. I can confirm that the rise in temporary
accommodation is not just in London and the conurbations. Devon
is deeply affected, and that affects the budgets of local
authorities. What progress is being made with the Government’s
proposals to enable local authorities to limit the switching or
changing of use of ordinary private rented accommodation into
Airbnb holiday accommodation and short-term lets, which is having
a huge effect in Devon and elsewhere?
(Con)
The noble Lord is right. I am aware of this issue. I do not have
the up-to- date facts with me so, if he does not mind, I will
write to him.
(Lab)
My Lords, the last Labour Government almost did away with
homelessness. It is a Conservative policy which has created this
scandal for the British people. Does the Minister have a plan? If
so, can she tell the House how much it would cost to end
homelessness and how that money would be allocated? Otherwise, it
will continue to be a blight on society.
(Con)
My Lords, I wish it were as simple as that. Yes, we have a plan
to build more houses in this country—importantly, more affordable
houses and houses for social rent. As I said, at a time when we
have been through a difficult economic situation, we have more
people needing temporary accommodation. It is important that we
are there to pick up those who need emergency roofs over their
heads. They need to feel safe and secure. Quite honestly, I think
they would rather be in temporary accommodation than on the
streets.
