Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Barwell and Simon Burns

Monday 27th February 2017 Commons Chamber

[Sir Simon Burns (Chelmsford) (Con)]

17. What recent steps his Department has taken to help rough sleepers and homeless people.

[The Minister for Housing and Planning (Gavin Barwell)]

We are investing nearly £250,000 in Colchester and Tendring to identify those at risk of rough sleeping and support them into accommodation. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Colchester (Will Quince) for the role he played in the Homelessness Reduction Bill and join in his tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Harrow East (Bob Blackman).

[Gavin Barwell]

My hon. Friend is right, and the Secretary of State said exactly that earlier in our questions. There is a real need not just to invest more money in this crucial area, but also to change the law, to ensure both that we have a full safety net and that we intervene earlier to prevent people from becoming homeless, rather than just at the point of crisis.

[Sir Simon Burns]

Does my hon. Friend agree that the work that Chelmsford City Council is doing to tackle the totally unacceptable problem of rough sleeping in Chelmsford is both innovative and positive?

[Gavin Barwell]

I absolutely agree with my right hon. Friend. I thank him for his personal commitment to this issue and say to him that the work that Chelmsford is doing is being supported by nearly £1 million from the £50 million that the Secretary of State referred to.