Homelessness

Lord Roberts of Llandudno Excerpts

Thursday 27th June 2013 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Lord Roberts of Llandudno]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to tackle the underlying causes of rough sleeping and homelessness.

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon]

My Lords, we have provided £470 million over the spending period to prevent rough sleeping and tackle homelessness, including £34 million to the Greater London Authority to tackle rough sleeping across the capital, and £20 million to support the national rollout of the No Second Night Out initiative and protect vital front-line services. The ministerial working group on homelessness is continuing to tackle the underlying causes of homelessness and has published two separate reports on rough sleeping and preventing homelessness.

[Lord Roberts of Llandudno]

I am grateful to the Minister for that reply. Does he agree with the conclusions of the report produced yesterday by St Mungo’s, which suggests that the factors more often present in the lives of those who slept rough were, first, a traumatic childhood; secondly, drug and alcohol use; and thirdly, mental ill health? Will the Minister and the Government be ready to join with organisations such as St Mungo’s, which do tremendous work with the homeless and rough sleepers, in setting up a permanent group to look continuously at these issues?