Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Wentworth and Dearne)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to the oral contribution of the Minister for Veterans' Affairs of 19 September 2023 on Resettlement of Afghans, Official Report, column 1254, how many (a) individuals and (b) families from Afghanistan are being housed in temporary accommodation under the local authority homelessness provision as of 17 October 2023.
Answered by Felicity Buchan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The majority of Afghan families have been moved out of bridging accommodation into longer-term accommodation. Time spent in temporary accommodation means people are getting help and it ensures no family is without a roof over their head.
Since 1 July 2023, the Department has been monitoring homelessness duties owed by English local authorities following the closure of Home Office provided bridging accommodation and this data is available on gov.uk at the following link.
There is a generous package of support available including £35 million of funding for councils to support Afghan households to move into settled accommodation, and the £750 million Local Authority Housing Fund for English councils to obtain housing for those on the Afghan and Ukrainian schemes who are at risk of homelessness. The fund is expected to provide over 4,000 homes by 2024.
Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Wentworth and Dearne)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to the oral statement of 19 September 2023 by the Minister for Veterans Affairs, Official Report columns 1253 to 1255, how many Afghan families in temporary accommodation under the local authority homelessness provision received at least one offer of permanent accommodation before 31 August 2023.
Answered by Felicity Buchan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
This information is not held by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.
Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Wentworth and Dearne)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what proportion of the £2 billion funding announced for housing projects at the Spending Review 2021 has been allocated; and when the next round of funding allocation will take place.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
At Spending Review 2021, a package of £1.8 billion investment was announced to drive economic growth, regenerate underused land and deliver transport links and community facilities. £1 billion from the Brownfield, Infrastructure and Land (BIL) programme has been distributed to Homes England, Greater Manchester Combined Authority, West Midlands Combined Authority and London. A further £360 million has been made available to local authorities and Mayoral Combined Authorities through the Brownfield Land Release Fund and the Brownfield Housing Fund. The funding will boost local areas by transforming disused sites and investing in vital infrastructure to help create vibrant communities for people to live and work, while also protecting our cherished green spaces; in England. An announcement about the allocation of the remaining funds will be made in due course.
Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Wentworth and Dearne)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how much and what proportion of the funding allocated to his Department at the Spending Review in 2021 (a) has been spent on (i) rough sleeping and (ii) homelessness and (b) has not yet been allocated.
Answered by Felicity Buchan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
At the last Spending Review, the Department was allocated over £2 billion to help tackle homelessness and rough sleeping.
We have allocated the vast majority of this funding across our core programmes including over £1 billion through the Homelessness Prevention Grant, £433 million through the Rough Sleeping Accommodation Programme, up to £500 million through the Rough Sleeping Initiative and £187 million Rough Sleeping Drug and Alcohol Treatment Grant.
Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Wentworth and Dearne)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, pursuant to the Answer of 27 February 2023 to Question 147433 on Private Rented Housing: Evictions, in which month he plans to publish the Renters Reform Bill.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
As stated in the answer to Question UIN 147433, we will introduce a Renters Reform Bill as soon as time allows in this Parliament.
Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Wentworth and Dearne)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to page 13 of the Veterans Strategy Action Plan: 2022 to 2024, what steps he has taken to ensure data on veterans' homelessness is collected consistently.
Answered by Felicity Buchan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
Our veterans play a vital role in keeping our country safe and we are committed to providing them with the support they need. The department has changed the guidelines for the reporting of homelessness statistics so that local authorities are required to capture more characteristics of a homeless applicant, including whether they previously served in the UK Armed Forces.
As I made clear during the second reading of the Supported Housing (Regulatory Oversight) Bill on 18 November, the Government has research underway to provide an up-to-date estimate of the size and cost of the supported housing sector across Great Britain, as well as estimate of future demand. The research project is due to report by the end of 2023.
Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Wentworth and Dearne)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to page 13 of the Veterans Strategy Action Plan: 2022 to 2024, whether his Department has completed its review into the supply of supported housing for veterans.
Answered by Felicity Buchan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
Our veterans play a vital role in keeping our country safe and we are committed to providing them with the support they need. The department has changed the guidelines for the reporting of homelessness statistics so that local authorities are required to capture more characteristics of a homeless applicant, including whether they previously served in the UK Armed Forces.
As I made clear during the second reading of the Supported Housing (Regulatory Oversight) Bill on 18 November, the Government has research underway to provide an up-to-date estimate of the size and cost of the supported housing sector across Great Britain, as well as estimate of future demand. The research project is due to report by the end of 2023.
Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Wentworth and Dearne)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, pursuant to the Answer of 14 November to Question 83528 on Ministry of Defence: Land, how many homes have been built on the 912 parcels of land formerly owned by the Ministry of Defence.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Where sites were disposed of as part of the Public Land for Housing Programmes which ran from 2011-2015 and 2015-2020 the department monitored build out. The Department published the concluding summary report and corresponding data, correct as of 31 March 2020, on 01 September 2022. This data release can be found here.
Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Wentworth and Dearne)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, pursuant to the Answer of 26 October to Question 68037 on Veterans: Repossession Orders, what information his Department holds on how many people took up new social housing lettings in the year 2020-21.
Answered by Felicity Buchan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
CORE Social Housing Lettings data provides information on new social housing lettings in England and the published statistics on social housing lettings between April 2020 and March 2021 can be found here.
Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Wentworth and Dearne)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, when the application portal for round two of the Levelling Up Fund bids will open.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
Work is ongoing to open the application portal for the second round of the Levelling Up Fund as soon as possible. In the meantime, applicants already have access to all the information needed to develop their applications. We have encouraged places to use these tools to prepare their applications in readiness to upload when the portal launches.