| answer text |
<p> </p><p><em>[Holding Reply: Monday 17 March 2014]</em></p><p>To assist public scrutiny,
I have placed in the Library of the House, a table which provides quarterly figures
for the last ten years.</p><p>Over that period, the numbers of households in temporary
accommodation in London in this Government is far lower than averaged under the last
Administration. The peak of 63,800 households in December 2005 compares to 42,430
in December 2013.</p><p>Councils have a responsibility to move homeless households
into settled accommodation as quickly as possible and we made common sense changes
to the law to enable them to use suitable private rented homes. The average stay in
temporary accommodation in England has been reduced from 20 months at the beginning
of 2010 to 14 months now, which means that people on average are spending far less
time in such temporary accommodation.</p><p>We have also seen a 42% reduction in the
numbers of families with children in Bed and Breakfast for more than six weeks on
this time last year across the country. The seven local authorities that my Department
has funded to tackle families in Bed and Breakfast have made significant progress,
achieving an overall reduction of 96% since the funding began.</p><p> </p>
|
|
