The Government is committed to reducing homelessness and rough sleeping. No one should ever have to sleep rough. That is why last summer we published the cross-government Rough Sleeping Strategy. This sets out an ambitious £100 million package to help people who sleep rough now, but also puts in place the structures that will end rough sleeping once and for all. The Government has now committed over £1.2 billion to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping over the spending review period. This year, Rough Sleeping Initiative investment totals £46 million and has been allocated to 246 areas \u2013 providing funding for an estimated 750 additional staff and over 2,600 bed spaces.<\/p>
The Chancellor has said that there will be a Spending Review this year, and the Government will be looking at funding for homelessness and rough sleeping services as part of that. Ministers have made very clear that homelessness and rough sleeping is a key priority for the Government.\u202fWe are working with other Government departments to assess what more can be done\u202fto combat rough sleeping and wider homelessness. This work is being overseen by the Ministerial Rough Sleeping and Homelessness Reduction Taskforce which includes HM Treasury and\u202fwill play an important part of our preparations for the forthcoming Spending Review.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4053", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Mrs Heather Wheeler"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "South Derbyshire"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Mrs Heather Wheeler"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2019-06-17", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2019-06-17T16:12:05.713Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "7"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Housing, Communities and Local Government"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Housing, Communities and Local Government"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2019-06-11", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Homelessness"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent discussions he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on increasing the level of funding allocated to homelessness in advance of the spending review.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4510", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Helen Hayes"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Dulwich and West Norwood"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Helen Hayes"} ], "uin" : "263197"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1130867", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1130867/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "
This Government is clear that nobody should be without a roof over their head. That is why we have committed to ending rough sleeping for good, with the aim of halving it by 2022.<\/p>
Last summer we published the cross-government Rough Sleeping Strategy. This sets out an ambitious £100 million package to help people who sleep rough now, but also puts in place the structures that will end rough sleeping once and for all. The Government has now committed over £1.2 billion to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping over the spending review period.<\/p>
We are giving serious consideration to the findings of the report from St Mungo\u2019s and Homeless Link. Housing-related support services are a local government responsibility. To deepen our understanding, we are undertaking a review of housing-related support services in order to build a comprehensive picture of current arrangements and how support and housing fit together.<\/p>
We also know that we need to build more social homes, which will help us to achieve our goal of preventing homelessness. The Government has made £9 billion available through the Affordable Homes Programme to March 2022, to deliver 250,000 new affordable homes of a wide range of tenures - including social rent. The expanded programme will provide homes to meet the housing needs of a range of people in different circumstances and different housing markets \u2013 building the right homes in the right places.<\/p>
We understand the importance of giving local areas security around funding. The Chancellor has said that there will be a spending review this year. Decisions about the future of homelessness funding, along with all other government funding, will be made at this point. Ministers have made clear that homelessness and rough sleeping are a key priority for this Government. We are working with other government departments to assess what more can be done to combat rough sleeping and wider homelessness. This work is being overseen by the Ministerial Rough Sleeping and Homelessness Reduction Taskforce and will be an important part of our preparations for the forthcoming Spending Review.<\/p>
While there is more work to be done in this area, there are some positive developments which I would like to point to. For the first time since 2010, the annual rough sleeping statistics saw a decrease in the number of those sleeping rough. Whilst only 2 per cent, this is in the face of average yearly increases of nearly 16 per cent. The annual rough sleeping statistics also showed a 19 per cent decrease in the number of those sleeping rough amongst the 83 local authorities that were part of the first phase of our Rough Sleeping Initiative (RSI) in comparison with 2017. We are currently carrying out an evaluation of the impact of our RSI, that will help to determine what effect our funding has had on reducing numbers of rough sleepers<\/p>
In its first year, RSI funding provided over 1,750 new bed spaces and 500 staff across the country. This year we have expanded the initiative with an investment of £46 million providing funding for an estimated 2,600 bed spaces and 750 staff. £12 million of this is for areas new to the programme, bringing the total authorities funded to 246.<\/p>"}
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], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of recent research by St Mungo\u2019s and Homeless Link showing reductions in local authority funding and in spending on homelessness between 2008-09 and 2017-18 and and an increase in rough sleeping since 2010.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"}
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I would like to thank the Baroness for participating in the question on homelessness. She raised an important point in relation to the impact of changes to social security on levels of rough sleeping and homelessness, and I committed to write to her to provide further details. I did so on the 30th May and I trust she has now received it.<\/p>
It has also been laid in the library of the House of Lords.<\/p>
<\/p>
<\/p>
<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4282", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth"} } , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2019-06-17", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2019-06-17T14:58:25.513Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "7"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Housing, Communities and Local Government"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Housing, Communities and Local Government"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2019-06-04", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Homelessness"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "2"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25277", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Lords"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the answer by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth on 2 May (HL Deb, col 1062), when they will send, and place a copy in the Library of the House, the letter referred to.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4234", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Baroness Lister of Burtersett"} } , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Baroness Lister of Burtersett"} ], "uin" : "HL16023"} ], "itemsPerPage" : 10, "page" : 0, "startIndex" : 1, "totalResults" : 3, "type" : ["http://purl.org/linked-data/api/vocab#ListEndpoint", "http://purl.org/linked-data/api/vocab#Page"]} }