Lord Jones
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(6 years, 10 months ago)
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Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
My Lords, first, this is not a problem unique to the United Kingdom.
Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
Secondly, there is only one country in the EU that does not face mounting numbers of rough sleepers and homelessness, and that is Finland. We have been careful to ensure that we have Finnish assistance on the advisory committee we are using. We are looking at this issue in a broad sense. It has not suddenly happened but it has increased over a period of time. Yes, it is a serious problem, as I have said on many occasions. We are committing resources to it and the noble Lord will be aware of our target of halving rough sleeping by 2022 and eliminating it by 2027.