Homelessness

Kirsty Blackman Excerpts

Tuesday 27th February 2018 Commons Chamber

[Kirsty Blackman (Aberdeen North) (SNP)]

Madam Deputy Speaker, it is unusual and noteworthy for the three Front Benchers all to be female in a House of Commons debate. Not only that, but so are the Chair and the hon. Members for Oxford West and Abingdon (Layla Moran) and for Chichester (Gillian Keegan), who secured the debate. That is unusual and I am pleased that it has occurred as we approach International Women’s Day.

The right hon. Member for Kingston and Surbiton (Sir Edward Davey) made an excellent speech about the fact that we are debating the estimates without the information from the Government that we should have if we are to properly scrutinise budgets and departmental spending. If we look at either the supplementary or main estimates, we cannot coherently read across how much money is being spent on homelessness or how much of the money committed in any of the estimates is relevant for Barnett consequentials. That information could be made much clearer in the estimates booklet.

I welcome the changes to the estimates procedure, with the Backbench Business Committee rather than the Liaison Committee being the one to choose the subjects for debate. It was nice of my hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow East (David Linden) to mention the work that I and my hon. Friends the Members for Glasgow North (Patrick Grady) and for Perth and North Perthshire (Pete Wishart) have done on this, and I am pleased that the House is moving forward. However, I am clear that much more change needs to occur in order for proper budgetary scrutiny to take place.

This has been an incredibly wide-ranging debate that I hope has given the Minister a lot to think about, particularly on the causes of homelessness and the ways to reduce it. One point that has not been mentioned at much length is the lack of recourse to public funds. That is a major issue in my constituency. Homelessness charities such as Aberdeen Cyrenians and Shelter are bringing up the issue of people who have no recourse to public funds and therefore find themselves homeless.

That is a specific issue for those who are fleeing domestic violence, and I would be grateful if the Minister had a look at it. Women’s refuges do not get housing support payments for women who are fleeing domestic violence if they have no recourse to public funds. We should not be making women and families who are fleeing domestic violence homeless simply because they have no recourse to public funds. I do not think that that is the Government’s intention, but I would very much appreciate it if the Government looked at that. It is particularly the case for EU nationals. It has previously been an issue for those from outside the EU, who have had a bit of a grace period, but for EU nationals there is no grace period, and an increasing number of them are being given “no recourse to public funds” status.

Right to buy has been raised by my hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow East and a number of other Members. In Scotland we no longer have right to buy. That is incredibly important and has made a huge difference. I was a local authority councillor from 2007 to 2015, and the vast majority of my casework involved people who were on the waiting list and struggling to get a council house.

One thing that has not been discussed very much in relation to right to buy is the fact that 40% of the properties that have been sold off by councils are now in the private rented sector. Because a number of those involve housing benefit, the Government are having to pay more money for the same properties than if they had not allowed right to buy. It is a ridiculous situation and not one that the Government should continue with. Far be it from me to tell another country what to do with its policies, but if the Government want to tackle homelessness, looking at right to buy would be a really good way to go.

My hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow East mentioned some of the things we have done in Scotland. We are building a huge number of affordable houses, and importantly, we are spending three times more per head of population on our affordable housing supply programme than the UK Government are spending on their affordable homes programme. That is why we are managing to increase the number of social houses we have and why we are managing to improve the situation in Scotland, to ensure that more people have a secure roof over their head.

We have also taken significant action on homelessness and rough sleeping. Our programme for government in Scotland specifically mentioned a £50 million fund over five years. In terms of the estimates, the more money the Government give to devolved matters, the more we receive in Barnett consequentials. It would be incredibly positive if the Government were to properly tackle this issue and put funding into it.

A number of Members have talked about the causes of homelessness. People are falling through the cracks, and that is partly because of the benefits system set up by the Government. We have a system which means that people need to get back into work very quickly, but some people with the most complex needs and addiction problems who do not have a roof over their head are not going to get back into work in six months, 12 months or even two years, because they need intensive support over a very long period.

Last time I was in a debate such as this, a number of Members said, “There but for the grace of God go I,” and that is absolutely the case. People have not necessarily made any more bad choices than I have in my lifetime, but because of their circumstances, their bad choices have resulted in them being homeless. More needs to be done to recognise that they are just the same as us and have not made any more bad choices; it is just that they have had more bad luck than we have.