Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to support local authorities to increase housebuilding as a result of the removal of the HRA borrowing cap.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
We are developing the planning capacity local authorities need to increase the delivery of new homes through the Planning Delivery Fund. Local authorities are able to draw from a wide range of sector led advice, good practice, and case study examples and we will also be working closely with local authorities to ensure they are able to make the most of the tools we have given them.
Local authorities can bid alongside housing associations for the £9 billion Affordable Homes Programme to build affordable homes. We are also providing a longer term rent deal for 5 years from 2020 to provide local authorities with a stable investment environment to deliver new homes and we have consulted on options for allowing local authorities more flexibility in the use of their Right to Buy receipts.
Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the validity of reports that local authorities are excluding people from social housing waiting lists due to (a) a history of rent arrears, (b) criminal convictions and (c) experience of rough sleeping.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Localism Act 2011 gave local authorities the power to set their own qualification criteria for social housing. They can now decide who should qualify for social housing in their area, and develop solutions which make best use of the social housing stock. The Localism Act also retained the statutory ‘reasonable preference’ requirements which ensure that overall priority for social housing goes to those in housing need, including homeless households, those in overcrowded housing, and those with medical and welfare needs.
The Social Housing Green Paper published in August this year (https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/a-new-deal-for-social-housing) sets out an intention to undertake an evidence collection exercise to help us understand how the social housing allocation framework is playing out in local areas and if it is striking the right balance of fairness, support and aspiration. The exercise will include a focus on how local authority flexibilities on qualification and prioritisation are being used in practice.
Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what plans the Government has to support landlords in the private rented sector to let to people with a history of rough sleeping.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
On 10 October we launched the Private Rented Sector Access Fund which makes available £20 million for schemes that will help landlords in the private rented sector let to people who are, or at risk of becoming homeless and sleeping rough. In the rough sleeping strategy, published in August, we committed to deliver the Rapid Rehousing Pathway. This includes support for both increased tenancy sustainment support for rough sleepers and those at risk of rough sleeping and funding for local lettings agencies to strengthen relationships between landlords and tenants.
Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment the Government has made of the effect of removing the ring-fencing on Supporting People funding on the provision of homelessness services.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
The Government is committed to tackling rough sleeping and homelessness, which is why we are providing over £1.2 billion of funding to address the issue. This year we have implemented the Homelessness Reduction Act, published our £100 million Rough Sleeping Strategy and taken immediate action to begin to reduce the number of people rough sleeping.
We also announced this summer that funding for housing costs across the supported accommodation sector, including short-term accommodation like homelessness hostels, will stay in Housing Benefit and that we would undertake a review of housing-related support. While the review will not assess the effect of the removal of the ringfence, it will help us better understand how housing and support fit together across the supported housing sector, including in supported homelessness provision.
Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether the Government has plans to undertake a (a) trial and (b) evaluation of Housing First for under-25s, including people who are not entrenched rough sleepers.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
Piloting Housing First was a 2017 manifesto commitment and was first announced at the Autumn Budget 2017. It is an important element of the Government’s effort to end rough sleeping by 2027. It will build on the implementation of the Homelessness Reduction Act, and the new Rough Sleeping Initiative that the previous Secretary of State announced on 30 March.
The Housing First Pilots that Government are funding in West Midlands, Greater Manchester and Liverpool City Region combined authorities will provide support to rough sleepers with the most complex needs, regardless of their age. The £28 million funding also includes £2.7 million for the external evaluation of the pilots. This will ensure we have a robust evidence base for the effectiveness of the approach.
There are currently no plans to develop a trial and evaluation of Housing First specifically for under-25s. However, we are committed to preventing youth homelessness and ensuring that young people get the support they need. That is why we announced in our Rough Sleeping Strategy that we are launching a new Social Impact Bond (SIB) targeted at young people who are at risk of homelessness or rough sleeping.
The Young Futures Fund will be aimed at young people aged 18-24 who are homeless and not in education, employment and training, with the ultimate goal of improving their life outcomes by offering them the tailored wrap around support that they need. It will build on the successes of the Fair Chance Fund which supported over 1,900 homeless young people to improve accommodation, employment and education outcomes. We will take the learning from the Fair Chance Fund to inform our approach.
Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how he has allocated new burdens funding to local authorities to fulfil the provisions of the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017 during the first two years of its implementation.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
The Government published its methodology for calculating and allocating £72.7 million of new burdens funding, on 16 October 2017. It can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/homelessness-reduction-act-new-burdens-funding
The Government has committed to review the implementation of the Act and the level of new burdens funding within two years of the commencement of the Act.
Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what information his Department holds on how much each local authority has (a) budgeted for and (b) spent on temporary accommodation in the last three years; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
MHCLG publishes information on yearly local authority expenditure: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/local-authority-revenue-expenditure-and-financing.
MHCLG also publishes regular statistics on rough sleeping, statutory homelessness, temporary accommodation and homelessness prevention and relief. These are published at national, London and local authority level. The latest statistics can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/homelessness-statistics.
Flexible Homelessness Support Grant gives local authorities more control and flexibility in managing homelessness pressures. Unlike the DWP Temporary Accommodation Management Fee, which was a reactive payment that could only be used for particular types of Temporary Accommodation, this grant is upfront funding which can be used flexibly as part of councils’ resourcing for their homelessness strategies.
The grant forms part of the Government’s end to end approach to preventing and tackling homelessness. We are ring-fencing the grant of £615 million for three years to secure its investment in homelessness services and enable local authorities to focus on homelessness prevention.
It sits alongside other funding for homelessness, including the £316 million Homelessness Prevention funding and our £50 million homelessness prevention package.
Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities, and Local Government, what plans he has to allocate funding to fulfil the provisions of the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017 after 2019-20.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
The Government published its methodology for calculating and allocating £72.7 million of new burdens funding, on 16 October 2017. It can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/homelessness-reduction-act-new-burdens-funding
The Government has committed to review the implementation of the Act and the level of new burdens funding within two years of the commencement of the Act.
Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will review the long-term effect of the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017 periodically after that Act comes into force in April 2017.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
We have committed to review the implementation of the Act and new burdens funding within two years of its commencement on 3 April 2018 and will consider any subsequent reviews in light of these.
Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what his Department’s assessment is of the progress local authorities are making on developing their brownfield land register.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
Local planning authorities are required to publish a statutory brownfield land register identifying which previously developed sites are suitable for housing by the end of 2017.
My officials have been supporting the implementation of brownfield registers and permission in principle through an active programme of engagement since early summer. We are also identifying authorities to work with whose positive or innovative approach can be used to promote good practice. Further assistance will be provided in 2018 to help promote permission in principle on suitable sites on registers.
Small sites, including sites on brownfield land, have a crucial role to play in increasing housing supply and speeding up delivery. That is why we announced in the Autumn Budget our proposal to expect authorities to bring forward 20 per cent of their housing supply as small sites. This will speed up the building of new homes and support the Government’s wider ambition to increase competition in the house building market. Brownfield registers can contribute to this alongside other measures as authorities have the discretion to include smaller sites in their registers and grant permission in principle on those sites if they wish.