Responding to the report by the All-Party Parliamentary
Group to End Homelessness on preventing homelessness, Cllr Martin
Tett, the Local Government Association's Housing spokesman,
said:
“Councils want to end homelessness and are already doing
everything they can within existing resources to prevent and
tackle it. There is no silver bullet and councils alone cannot
tackle rising homelessness.
“Care and prison leavers need support, as do the many
others affected by rising rates of homelessness. Faced with
rising housing costs, funding cuts and wide-ranging welfare
reforms, it is increasingly challenging for councils to resolve
increasing homelessness.
"Homelessness is everyone’s responsibility – it is crucial
that national and local health, justice, employment and welfare
partners work positively with councils to prevent it happening in
the first place.
“Councils are doing all they can. On the day this report is
released, we’ve launched our Housing Advisers Programme which
will provide support to councils looking to innovate and improve
in their efforts to help reduce homelessness.
“There is, however, no shortcut to the real solution to
this problem. Councils need the powers, and access to funding,
which will enable them to resume their historic role as a major
builder of affordable homes. That means being able to borrow to
invest in housing, and keep 100 per cent of the receipts from any
homes they sell, to replace them and re-invest in genuinely
affordable homes.”
