Homelessness

Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth Excerpts

Wednesday 7th September 2016 Lords Chamber

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Communities and Local Government and Wales Office (Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth) (Con)]

My Lords, I am very pleased to answer this Question for Short Debate; it has been a debate of considerable import and great passion. I thank the noble Lord, Lord Kennedy, for securing a discussion on such an important issue and I thank the noble Lords, Lord Bird and Lord Cashman, the noble Baronesses, Lady Morgan, Lady Thornhill and Lady Armstrong, and my noble friends Lord Porter and Lady Stroud for their contributions.

Before I address specific issues that have been raised—any I do not cover in the time available I will write on—I will make a number of points. People who find themselves homeless are some of the most vulnerable in our society, which is a point that has already been made, and this Government remain committed to ensuring that they always have a roof over their heads. Homelessness affects all parts of our community: youths, women, members of the LGBT community, families, single people—they all deserve attention in this regard, not just some of them.

Since 2010, we have invested more than £500 million in enabling local authorities—who are key partners, as the noble Baroness, Lady Thornhill, rightly acknowledged —to help prevent or relieve more than a million cases of homelessness. Homelessness acceptances are now less than half of the 2003-04 peak, but just one person without a home is one too many. A diverse range of needs displayed by different groups of people means that, despite the efforts of successive Governments—and, as my noble friend Lord Porter said, it has been successive Governments—homelessness remains a significant problem in this country. There are multifarious reasons behind this, as have been set out by many noble Lords during this debate, but ably set out by the noble Lord, Lord Kennedy, in opening.

That is why the fight against homelessness must continue. My noble friend Lady Stroud was right to stress the importance of prevention and prevention funding; the Government have protected homelessness prevention funding that goes to local authorities—a total of £315 million by 2020—and have increased funding for homelessness programmes to £139 million over the course of the Parliament. The noble Baroness, Lady Morgan, rightly said that funding is vital, which I readily acknowledge; I also thank her for her kind comments about the Prime Minister’s commitment to this issue and to the vulnerable.

In the most recent Budget we set aside £115 million to tackle rough sleeping and homelessness. This includes £100 million for 2,000 accommodation places for rough sleepers and domestic abuse victims. An extra £10 million has been used to support innovative projects. That includes the social impact bond in London, which is one measure where we are working with the Mayor of London. The funding was doubled to £10 million, as my noble friend Lady Stroud set out, which helps London. We are also conscious that many of the London boroughs—Westminster, Hackney, Tower Hamlets and others—are doing great things.

I will quickly set out the Government’s approach in three different areas: preventing homelessness; helping people move on from homelessness; and the action we are taking across Whitehall. Prevention is often the key, as my noble friend Lady Stroud said. Homelessness is not just a housing issue. There are underlying issues, many of which have been touched on, such as drink and drugs, raised by my noble friend Lady Stroud, the noble Baroness, Lady Armstrong, and the noble Lord, Lord Kennedy; a lack of education, set out by the noble Lord, Lord Bird; and sexuality, mentioned by the noble Lord, Lord Cashman. Many factors come into this; it is not a simple issue. Tackling homelessness therefore requires a collective response at national and local levels and an unrelenting focus on prevention. Effective prevention requires a strong legislative framework, quality housing advice services, effective partnership working and funding.

The Government have taken action to meet those requirements. We have funded the National Homelessness Advice Service, delivered by Shelter and Citizens Advice —I acknowledge the important role of third sector organisations, as mentioned by the noble Lord, Lord Cashman, in the context of Crisis—which ensures that frontline housing advisers have access to the best-quality professional advice to help vulnerable people.

We have provided £2 million for the Gold Standard scheme, delivered by the National Practitioner Support Service, to help local authorities deliver more effective and cost-efficient homelessness prevention. We know how important it is that, when people are faced with a homelessness situation, they have somewhere to go and experts to talk to—so front-line staff need to be equipped to provide this service. Getting the right training is part of that. The National Practitioner Support Service—which is I think currently provided through the London Borough of Hounslow—has enabled areas such as Greenwich and Wigan to improve their services and achieve Gold Standard status to help other local authorities.

Our efforts to prevent homelessness are supported by legislation, which provides a strong safety net for families with children and vulnerable people who become homeless through no fault of their own. I pick up on two specific issues that were mentioned. The first is the Wales position; as somebody who has spent a lot of my life learning lessons from Wales, I am open to learning more. In this role I am very keen to learn from the devolved Administrations and I have already spoken to my counterpart in Wales to ensure that we share lessons, data, best practice and so on. We are looking at what Wales is doing; it is early days yet but there are certainly some encouraging signs there.

This brings me on to the Homelessness Reduction Bill, sponsored by the Conservative MP for Harrow East, Bob Blackman, which has been mentioned by many noble Lords, including the noble Lord, Lord Kennedy, my noble friend Lady Stroud and the noble Baroness, Lady Thornhill, by implication. We are certainly looking closely at that—we support its aims but obviously the detail needs to be looked at, but I reassure the House that we are very keen on its aims and we are looking closely at it, as we should.

While we prioritise preventing homelessness, we are also helping people to move on from a life on the streets. We are supporting innovative new approaches to address the most difficult cases, such as expanding on the success of the world’s first homelessness social impact bond, which we funded in London. So far, more than half of those who have taken part in that have achieved positive outcomes. I am aware of one rough sleeper who had been sleeping rough for five years. He was a victim of childhood sexual abuse and violence and became self-abusing with drugs and alcohol. Previous support had focused on his substance misuse issues, but the social impact team convinced him to undertake a psychological assessment. He is now housed in a one-bedroom flat and, through engaging with a GP, he can access healthcare and medication to help deal with his anxiety and mood problems—a very positive situation. We have also invested more than £1 million in StreetLink, a national telephone line, website and app that enables the public to alert services when they suspect that someone is sleeping rough.

I move on to supporting people to move on from homelessness. To help single homeless people to move from homelessness to independent living—the noble Lord, Lord Kennedy, raised this issue, I think, in the context of mental health—we are working with the Department of Health and with local authorities and health authorities. This is clearly an important issue.

We are also providing accommodation, education, training and jobs for around 1,600 of our most vulnerable young homeless people through the £15 million DCLG Fair Chance Fund scheme. I am aware of a case where a young person became homeless due to a relationship breakdown with his mother. He was referred to the fund, where he was supported into accommodation and secured his own tenancy. He became settled and gained confidence, attended college, achieved a qualification in plumbing, found a job and has been reconciled with his mother, so there are success stories out there.

We have helped homeless people into jobs by improving their basic English, maths and IT skills. We have also helped more than 10,000 vulnerable people access privately rented accommodation through the £14 million access to the private rented sector programme run by Crisis. Again, I pay tribute to the work it does, as was also mentioned by the noble Lord, Lord Cashman. I am aware of the difference this scheme made for someone whose marriage had broken down and who lost his home. He was helped through this by Crisis. He was at first sceptical of the help that he was offered but it has turned out well and he is now in work and is properly housed.

Mental health is an issue, as I mentioned, and this has been touched on by many noble Lords. I am very keen that we address it, as we are doing with local health authorities, through the Department of Health and, of course, with local authorities.

I very much applaud the work of social enterprises that support those experiencing homelessness. I do not think anybody could have done more in this context than the noble Lord, Lord Bird. On behalf of all of us, I place on record our admiration for the success that he has had. Through this debate I urge everybody, wherever they have an opportunity, to speak to the people who are selling the Big Issue, buy a copy and perhaps give a little extra to them because that is something concrete that everybody can and should do.

On the cross-government response across Whitehall, the Ministerial Working Group on Homelessness, chaired by my honourable friend the Minister for Local Government, Marcus Jones, is ensuring that every area of government plays its part too. This year it will focus on addressing the underlying issues of homelessness, supporting better responses from mental health services and improving accommodation for ex-offenders. Very importantly, we are also focusing on housebuilding and trying to ensure that we have affordable housing in the social sector.

I shall deal with a couple of specific issues that have been raised. The noble Baroness, Lady Armstrong, referred to the importance of doing something for women. We recognise that the needs of female rough sleepers can be different from those of male rough sleepers. She was right to mention the sexual exploitation of female rough sleepers. I pay tribute to Westminster City Council, which has provided a female-only shelter, the Marylebone Project. That is certainly worth looking at, as is the Women at the Well project based in King’s Cross. However, we are looking at this area and are certainly open to looking further at it. If the noble Baroness wishes to speak to us further on this issue, we can perhaps take it further.

The noble Baronesses, Lady Thornhill and Lady Morgan, both raised the issue of the local housing allowance caps and the 1% social rent reduction. The Government have been clear that the most vulnerable will be protected and supported through welfare reforms. I think the Prime Minister touched on this in a specific area in relation to refuges in Prime Minister’s Questions today, and I would like to underline that. The Government expect to make an announcement on the way forward for supporting housing in the autumn.

The noble Lord, Lord Cashman, rightly expressed concern about this issue affecting the LGBT community in many ways, and referred to the work done by the Albert Kennedy Trust. We are very keen to look further at the work of the Albert Kennedy Trust. We welcome the work it has done and, indeed, the work that Stonewall Housing has done. This issue affects all parts of the community and we must ensure that all parts of the community are taken on board in relation to it.

In closing, I thank noble Lords immensely for their contributions. The Government are aware of the importance of this issue. I am sure there are points that I have not covered and I will ensure that they are picked up in correspondence and copied to everybody who has contributed to the debate. I will also place a copy in the Library. I am sure that we will come back to this issue. As noble Lords appreciate, it is a very complex issue with many different strands. However, we take it seriously and I am very grateful for noble Lords’ contributions to the debate.