Oral Answers to Questions

Baroness Chapman of Darlington Excerpts

Monday 22nd January 2018 Commons Chamber

[Matt Western (Warwick and Leamington) (Lab)]

4. What assessment he has made of trends in the number of homeless people sleeping rough between 2010 and 2016.

[Jenny Chapman (Darlington) (Lab)]

11. What assessment he has made of trends in the number of homeless people sleeping rough between 2010 and 2016.

[Mr Paul Sweeney (Glasgow North East) (Lab/Co-op)]

13. What assessment he has made of trends in the number of homeless people sleeping rough between 2010 and 2016.

--- Later in debate ---

[Jenny Chapman]

The number of rough sleepers in Darlington has doubled since 2010. Is that caused by: (a), a reduction in council budgets; (b), more than £5 million of cuts to housing benefit; (c), the bedroom tax; (d), the lack of affordable housing; (e), universal credit—I could go to (z), Mr Speaker—or the Minister’s failure to tackle soaring rents in the private sector?

[Mrs Wheeler]

I thank the hon. Lady for her question but, frankly, this is not a laughing matter. The Government are clear that one person without a home is too many. We have already taken steps towards combating rough sleeping and homelessness. For instance, we have implemented the most ambitious legislative reform in decades through the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017, which comes into force this April. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Harrow East (Bob Blackman) for all his hard work on that Act. We will ensure that more people get the help they need earlier to prevent them from becoming homeless in the first place.