Asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark To ask Her Majesty’s
Government how many families were homeless over Christmas 2017.
Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Lab Co-op) My Lords, I beg leave
to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper and, in
doing so, I draw the House’s attention to my relevant
interests—namely, as a councillor and as a vice-president of the
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Asked by
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To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many families were
homeless over Christmas 2017.
-
(Lab
Co-op)
My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name
on the Order Paper and, in doing so, I draw the House’s
attention to my relevant interests—namely, as a councillor
and as a vice-president of the Local Government Association.
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The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of
Housing, Communities and Local Government and Wales Office
(Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth) (Con)
My Lords, based on the latest statistics available, in
September 2017 79,190 households were living in temporary
accommodation, and in January 2017 there were 4,134 rough
sleepers.
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My Lords, according to work undertaken by Shelter,
approximately 120,000 children woke up on Christmas Day in
B&Bs, hostels or other forms of temporary accommodation
in England. Does the noble Lord agree that this figure shames
our nation, and can he tell the House what work he and his
department will do in the next 12 months to bring this figure
down dramatically?
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My Lords, the noble Lord’s figure is correct. This is from a
high of 130,000 in 2006, when the homelessness level was at
its highest. It is too high—there is no doubt about that—as
has been clearly stated from all sides of the House. What are
we doing? We are certainly committing £1 billion to tackle
homelessness up to 2020, and that includes rough sleeping. As
the noble Lord will have seen, we have made this a top
priority. Although cosmetic in a sense, the change in the
name of the department, which now features housing as clearly
the most important thing that we are seeking to tackle as a
Government, is important because it indicates the priority
that we give to homelessness, and the £1 billion will help to
bring those figures down.
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(CB)
My Lords, this House gave its very full support to the
Homelessness Reduction Act, as it became. I pay tribute to
MP; he was reshuffled this
morning but did a fantastic job getting that legislation
through the House of Commons. The one matter on which we were
all very anxious was whether there would be the resources to
go with this important preventive legislation. Can the
Minister reassure us that the money has been found so that
when this starts in spring this year, local authorities will
be able to do what we hope they will do—prevent homelessness
as much as possible?
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My Lords, the noble Lord is absolutely right about the
Homelessness Reduction Act being at the centre of our
action—in this regard, a preventive measure. I echo what he
said about ’s role in that; it was
considerable, as indeed was that of the noble Lord in seeking
to ensure the Bill went through this House with government
support, and I pay tribute to him as well. I can confirm that
the money that was committed under the new burdens
doctrine—from memory, some £71 million—is being made
available to help with the implementation of the Act. It is,
as I said, very much at the centre of the action in this
area.
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(LD)
My Lords, did the Minister see the Liberal Democrat report
last week on empty properties, which revealed that there are
well over 200,000 empty properties, of which one-quarter have
been empty for five years or much longer? Given the
negligible use of empty dwelling management orders, will the
Minister undertake an urgent review of resource and powers
for local councils so that they can bring those long-term
empty properties back into use and help homeless families?
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My Lords, I have not had the privilege of seeing that
literature as yet, but I anticipate having the opportunity to
look at it at some stage. The noble Baroness will know that
there were powers in the Budget to ensure that the ability to
charge a higher rate of council tax on empty properties is
increased. That is being done. She will be aware also that
the numbers have come down considerably over the past decade,
although admittedly there is work still to be done.
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The Lord
My Lords, research by the charity Shelter suggests that if
current government policy continues as it is, 83% of areas in
England will be unaffordable to those on local housing
allowances by 2019-20. What assessment have Her Majesty’s
Government made of the effect of the freeze on levels of
homelessness? When will that freeze come to an end?
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My Lords, I thank the right reverend Prelate for that mention
of Shelter, which is clearly very much a partner in this,
working with us on the advisory committee on homelessness. We
look forward to working with Polly Neate and Shelter, and
with Crisis and other organisations, in seeking to get those
figures down. As I have indicated, there are challenges
throughout the country, but with the resources we are
committing to this, both in financial and human resources
terms, and the importance we are giving it across government,
we are confident that we will hit the targets on new houses
and bring down the homelessness figure at the same time.
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(Con)
Will my noble friend tell me what action the Government are
taking to ensure that more people who are homeless are able
to access the private rented sector?
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My Lords, it has been central to the Government’s thinking
that we make more use of the private rented sector in seeking
to ensure that people who are homeless have somewhere to go.
This was extended from the social sector so that appropriate
private rented sector property can be used for homeless
people in temporary accommodation. That is very much at the
heart of what we are doing. However, at the same time, it is
important that we increase the supply side. Therefore, we are
building more houses to take in more people from the
temporary accommodation list, so that we can ensure that
everybody has a home. That is central to our thinking.
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(Lab)
Does the Minister recall that in about 2002 the then Labour
Government persuaded Louise Casey to come from Shelter into
the Government and that, with the programmes she set up, we
virtually eliminated rough sleeping by 2010? What is the main
reason it has come back again?
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My Lords, first, this is not a problem unique to the United
Kingdom.
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Noble Lords
Oh!
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Secondly, there is only one country in the EU that does not
face mounting numbers of rough sleepers and homelessness, and
that is Finland. We have been careful to ensure that we have
Finnish assistance on the advisory committee we are using. We
are looking at this issue in a broad sense. It has not
suddenly happened but it has increased over a period of time.
Yes, it is a serious problem, as I have said on many
occasions. We are committing resources to it and the noble
Lord will be aware of our target of halving rough sleeping by
2022 and eliminating it by 2027.
-
(Con)
My Lords, what are the Government doing to address the family
and relationship breakdowns which drive so much youth
homelessness, in addition to the relationship support they
are giving to workless families, as this is relevant to only
a tiny proportion of the affected population?
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My Lords, my noble friend is right about the contribution to
the homelessness figure of family and relationship breakdown.
In relation to youth homelessness, which is obviously part of
that, we have committed resources to the homelessness
prevention programme. Over two-thirds of local authorities
have taken up the assistance available there—prevention is
the key—and, at the same time, we are also putting resources
into the fair chance fund.
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(Non-Afl)
The Minister said that £1 billion is available for homeless
families but does he accept that that is not sufficient to
feed all the people who needed support and help during the
Christmas period? Does he accept that charities such as
Crisis, Islamic Relief and Muslim Aid were critical
components in feeding massive numbers of families and
individuals? Will he commend their efforts to assist the
Government where the Government have been sadly lacking?
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My Lords, I am very happy to commend the work of many
charities, both local and national, faith charities and other
charities, over the Christmas period and at other times of
the year. The noble Baroness mentioned some charities. St
Mungo’s is another one: it helped massively at Euston
station, for example, which I am sure we all saw. I am happy
to commend the charities. We have been talking here, in the
main, about the provision of housing rather than the
provision of food and so on. The noble Baroness mentioned
food as an issue—undoubtedly it is—but these resources are
going specifically on housing.
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