Homelessness

Baroness Hughes of Stretford Excerpts

Tuesday 21st January 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

The noble Baroness is quite right. It is outrageous that people choose to exploit the individuals concerned in this situation and the councils that have to fund their accommodation. We are doing everything we can to discover the extent of this and to tackle it head on. We recognise the increasing costs of that temporary accommodation and the pressure that it places on council budgets. As well as the homelessness prevention grant, councils are expected to draw from their wider local government finance, as the noble Baroness is aware. The overall local government settlement made extra provision for that, as well as the additional homelessness funding. It is totally unacceptable for homeless people to be exploited. We continue to track that down everywhere we can.

[Baroness Hughes of Stretford (Lab)]

Does my noble friend agree that we have a crisis now with the number of children and young people trapped in bed and breakfast accommodation, in totally unsuitable conditions, which will have an important and deleterious effect on their well-being? On the strategy she outlined, can she say more about the priority that the Government are giving to reducing the number of children and young people trapped in homelessness and to taking them out of that temporary system?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

My noble friend is quite right. There is a short-term and very long-term effect on young people who get trapped in temporary accommodation. Councils must make sure that temporary accommodation is suitable for the needs of the household. Households can request a review of their accommodation if they feel it is unsuitable and it an applicant is not satisfied with how the council has handled their case. We have launched emergency accommodation reduction pilots, backed with £5 million, to work with the 20 local authorities that have the highest use of bed and breakfast accommodation for homeless families. Through the Renters’ Rights Bill, we will be applying the decent homes standard to the private rented sector; this includes a clause to bring temporary accommodation into the scope of the decent homes standard.