Homelessness – Parliamentary Written Answer

Mr Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what steps he has (a) taken since May 2010 and (b) plans to take in the next 12 months to tackle homelessness; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Prisk (edited reply): At the beginning of this Parliament we established a Ministerial Working Group on Homelessness to tackle the complex drivers of homelessness. The group has published two reports so far: ‘Vision to end

rough sleeping’ and ‘Making every contact Count’, which are available via the Department's website.  We have since made common sense changes to the rules to enable local authorities to help families quickly into settled homes in the private rented sector and we are tackling affordability by increasing supply of affordable and market rent housing. And despite the difficult climate, we have invested £470 million over four years to help local authorities prevent and tackle homelessness, rough sleeping and repossessions. We have also increased the discretionary housing payments pot to around £400 million over the spending period to help families and those in vulnerable situations with the transition of welfare reform changes. We have also supported the voluntary sector to develop a new service—Streetlink which offers a hand-up, rather than a handout. Streetlink provides a central point of contact that anyone who wants to get help for rough sleepers across England can call. The national telephone line (0300 500 0914) was launched last year.

Over the next 12 months we will continue to invest in preventing homelessness and implement and develop policies via the Ministerial Working Group and our partners.