Asked by: Kate Osamor (Independent - Edmonton)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will commission an independent inquiry into the practice of classifying people as intentionally homeless.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
How an authority should determine whether or not someone is intentionally homeless is set out in legislation and statutory homelessness guidance, which is available to the public and authorities. It makes clear that housing authorities should consider each case in light of its particular facts and must not adopt general policies which seek to pre-define circumstances that do or do not amount to intentional homelessness. We have no plans to carry out a review.
Homelessness legislation ensures that families and the most vulnerable always have a roof over their head. This includes cases where households have made themselves homeless and are assessed by a local authority as being in priority need for accommodation. The law places a duty on the authority to secure suitable accommodation for a period that enables the household a reasonable opportunity to secure their own accommodation.
Asked by: Kate Osamor (Independent - Edmonton)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what information his Department provides to (a) the public and (b) councils on the definition and application of the classification of intentional homelessness.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
How an authority should determine whether or not someone is intentionally homeless is set out in legislation and statutory homelessness guidance, which is available to the public and authorities. It makes clear that housing authorities should consider each case in light of its particular facts and must not adopt general policies which seek to pre-define circumstances that do or do not amount to intentional homelessness. We have no plans to carry out a review.
Homelessness legislation ensures that families and the most vulnerable always have a roof over their head. This includes cases where households have made themselves homeless and are assessed by a local authority as being in priority need for accommodation. The law places a duty on the authority to secure suitable accommodation for a period that enables the household a reasonable opportunity to secure their own accommodation.
Asked by: Kate Osamor (Independent - Edmonton)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will conduct a review of local government (a) procedures on and (b) requirements to provide housing to families who become intentionally homeless.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
How an authority should determine whether or not someone is intentionally homeless is set out in legislation and statutory homelessness guidance, which is available to the public and authorities. It makes clear that housing authorities should consider each case in light of its particular facts and must not adopt general policies which seek to pre-define circumstances that do or do not amount to intentional homelessness. We have no plans to carry out a review.
Homelessness legislation ensures that families and the most vulnerable always have a roof over their head. This includes cases where households have made themselves homeless and are assessed by a local authority as being in priority need for accommodation. The law places a duty on the authority to secure suitable accommodation for a period that enables the household a reasonable opportunity to secure their own accommodation.
Asked by: Kate Osamor (Independent - Edmonton)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to further control the ability of private landlords to evict tenants at short notice.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
The Government recently introduced protection for tenants from unfair eviction where they have made a legitimate complaint about the condition of their home. We have also introduced measures to ensure fairness for landlords, making the eviction process more straightforward in appropriate circumstances such as the persistant non-payment of rent. We believe that the current approach strikes a fair balance between the rights of landlords and tenants and do not have any plans to introduce further restrictions on a landlord’s ability to evict a tenant.
The Housing and Planning Bill introduced on 13 October contains a range of measures that are intended to crack down on criminal landlords, thereby helping to improve the sector and ensure tenants get a better deal. There will be a blacklist of rogue landlords and letting agents, banning orders for the most prolific and serious offenders, civil penalties of up to £5,000 for certain breaches of housing legislation, Rent Repayment Orders to cover situations where a tenant has been illegally evicted or the landlord has failed to rectify a serious health and safety hazard in the property, and a tougher fit and proper person test for landlords letting out licensed properties, such as Houses in Multiple Occupation.
Asked by: Kate Osamor (Independent - Edmonton)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what proportion of households evicted from council accommodation rented from private landlords at short notice have been provided with emergency accommodation on the night of eviction.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
The requested data are not held centrally.