Homelessness Bill 'Will Not Work', Say Councils

A homelessness bill that imposes increased duties on councils “will not work”, the Local Government Association has said. The chair of the LGA, Lord Gary Porter, said the Homelessness Reduction Bill put forward by Conservative backbench MP Bob Blackman, which includes measures to help councils intervene earlier to prevent people becoming homeless “is not the answer to tackling homelessness”. Instead councils say they need to be able to build more homes and the government needs to address a gap between incomes and rising rents. The LGA said the availability of social rented council housing has halved since 1994 and 69,000 people are already living in temporary accommodation. Read the briefing on the LGA website.