Homelessness: Rough Sleepers in London

Baroness Hanham Excerpts

Tuesday 30th October 2012 Lords Chamber

[Lord Sheldon]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what proposals they have to reduce the number of people sleeping on the streets of London.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Communities and Local Government (Baroness Hanham)]

My Lords, the Government are committed to tackling rough sleeping. We have provided £400 million over four years to prevent homelessness, including £34 million to the Greater London Authority to tackle rough sleeping across the capital. My department is also providing £5 million to London to set up a social impact bond to help 750 entrenched rough sleepers in London. The mayor’s No Second Night Out scheme has been particularly successful in helping new rough sleepers in London off the street quickly, and we are investing to roll out No Second Night Out nationally.

[Lord Sheldon]

My Lords, I have seen two sleepers in a local street in London and others are close by. There is a need to offer suitable beds so that people are not sleeping in streets in London.

[Baroness Hanham]

My Lords, the mayor’s No Second Night Out scheme is being very effective. There are more than 2,000 hostel places in London each night and there are teams out consistently during the night. We anticipate that 80% of those who sleep out one night do not sleep out the next night.

[Lord Laming]

My Lords, the Minister will be aware of the statistics relating to the number of children and young people who run away from home each year, particularly young people who are in the care of local authorities. These young people often sleep rough and are in considerable danger. Will the Minister say what steps the Government are taking to pay particular attention to safeguarding these young children?

[Baroness Hanham]

My Lords, no one will know better than the noble Lord that local authorities have a particular responsibility for young people, particularly those under 16. At present, there is little evidence of children under 16 sleeping rough. If they do, it is for a very short time because local authorities and the leading young people’s homelessness charities, such as Centrepoint, take them in very quickly. I think 18 to 25 year-olds are more of a problem. They seem to sleep rough for a number of reasons, but I think I can reassure the noble Lord that there is very swift action if anybody under 16, certainly from the categories he knows about, is left out on the street for any length of time.

[Lord Storey]

My Lords, my noble friend may be aware of a recent survey which found that people sleeping rough on average had a 28% contact with police and only a 5% contact with outreach workers. Will she look at the Reading single homeless project, which found that it could reduce homelessness by 52% by targeting individual needs, whether they are related to drug abuse, alcoholism or mental health problems?

[Baroness Hanham]

My Lords, the noble Lord may know that my department initiated an across-department ministerial working group, which is concentrating on all aspects of homelessness, including rough sleeping. It has been very effective in finding ways of ensuring that the problems that the noble Lord raises are dealt with.

[The Lord Bishop of Hereford]

Does the Minister care to say whether Her Majesty's Government are likely to take up the suggestion made by the Royal Institute of British Architects in its report published four days ago that local authority pension funds might contribute to the cost of affordable housing and so address the issue of homelessness by that route? If the Government are not mindful to take up that suggestion, will they find funding by some other route so as to increase the provision of genuinely affordable housing?

[Baroness Hanham]

My Lords, the Government have taken a number of initiatives over the past couple of years to ensure that affordable housing is provided. The question of whether pension funds can be used for this is not something that I can address today. That would be, I think, a matter for each individual pension fund and I am not sure whether local government pension funds would be entitled to do that. If I can find the answer for the right reverend Prelate, I will do so, but I do not have a brief on that today.

[Baroness Armstrong of Hill Top]

My Lords, I want to assure myself and other noble Lords that the Minister is not complacent about this issue. The numbers of rough sleepers not just in London but throughout the country have risen substantially in the past year. We know that many of them now have mental health issues. The challenge of getting mental health services for rough sleepers is enormous, as I know only too well from trying to do so for rough sleepers around the north-east. For example, in Durham city, we have for the first time seven rough sleepers where we have never had them before. Are the Government tackling this urgently and are they going to commit to making sure that we end rough sleeping?

[Baroness Hanham]

My Lords, I can absolutely assure the noble Baroness that there is no complacency. This is a very unhappy situation for those who are sleeping rough and it is an unacceptable situation for the country in which we live. Perhaps that will answer the first part of the question. The second part of the question referred to those with mental health problems. It is fair to say that particularly in London, which is where the Question refers to, 43% of rough sleepers have mental health problems. Within that, of course, are hidden alcohol needs and drug needs. Services are already available to deal with those problems. Westminster has a mental health team. There are specialists to assess those conditions and to deal with them. But there is no complacency.

[Lord Rogan]

My Lords, statistics show that a higher proportion of ex-service personnel are sleeping rough compared with the population as a whole. Will the Government take urgent steps to address that problem?

[Baroness Hanham]

My Lords, the statistics are that 4% of those people sleeping rough are from the Armed Forces. My right honourable friend Grant Shapps, when he was Minister for Housing in the previous Parliament, had already made it clear that those from the Armed Forces absolutely received top priority. We are very aware of that problem. However, as I say, the figure is as low as four in one hundred.