Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 3 November 2017 to Question 110466, on private rented housing: homelessness, which projects are included in his consideration of the effectiveness of existing projects.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
There are various different types of mediated access schemes being operated across the country, including Help to Rent projects and Guarantee deposit schemes. We are considering how best to take forward a mediated access in the context of our overall homelessness prevention approach.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 3 November 2017 to Question 110466, on private rented housing: homelessness, what the timetable is for the conclusion and publication of his consideration of the effectiveness of existing projects.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
There are various different types of mediated access schemes being operated across the country, including Help to Rent projects and Guarantee deposit schemes. We are considering how best to take forward a mediated access in the context of our overall homelessness prevention approach.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, with reference to his Department's consultation paper, Funding supported housing, published on 31 October 2017, whether the current projections of future need take account of population growth and demographic changes.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
Government is committed to boosting the provision of much-needed supported housing. Since 2011, we have delivered 27,000 units of specialist and general housing for disabled, vulnerable and older people. We announced £400 million of funding through the Autumn 2015 Spending Review to deliver new specialist affordable homes. To date, the Department of Health has committed around £200 million to build over 6,000 supported homes through the Care and Support Specialised Housing (CASSH) Fund, again for older people, adults with physical disabilities, learning difficulties or mental health needs.
Our new funding model, announced on 31 October, retains funding for the two types of long-term supported housing in the welfare system – that is housing primarily for older people and housing for those who need on-going support, like vulnerable people with long-term mental ill health. This will give providers the certainty they need in order to invest in future supply.
In order to protect short-term supported housing provision, we are ring-fencing grant funding and intend to keep it ring-fenced into the long-term. Funding here will be at the same level it would have been through the welfare system in the first year of introduction of the new model in 2020-21. Budgets are not yet set for years beyond Spending Review settlements but future funding allocations for short-term accommodation will take account of the costs of provision and demand for services. Our assessment of this will take account of local authority strategic plans for supported housing - these plans will include local current and future needs and provision assessments. It will also take account of any modelling and projections of required future provision that may prove helpful including the Department for Communities and Local Government and the Department of Health commissioned research by the Personal Social Services Research Unit of the London School of Economics (2017), Projected demand for supported housing in Great Britain 2015 to 2030, as referenced in our policy statement of 31 October.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the current shortfall in mental health places in supported housing.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
Government is committed to boosting the provision of much-needed supported housing. Since 2011, we have delivered 27,000 units of specialist and general housing for disabled, vulnerable and older people. We announced £400 million of funding through the Autumn 2015 Spending Review to deliver new specialist affordable homes. To date, the Department of Health has committed around £200 million to build over 6,000 supported homes through the Care and Support Specialised Housing (CASSH) Fund, again for older people, adults with physical disabilities, learning difficulties or mental health needs.
Our new funding model, announced on 31 October, retains funding for the two types of long-term supported housing in the welfare system – that is housing primarily for older people and housing for those who need on-going support, like vulnerable people with long-term mental ill health. This will give providers the certainty they need in order to invest in future supply.
In order to protect short-term supported housing provision, we are ring-fencing grant funding and intend to keep it ring-fenced into the long-term. Funding here will be at the same level it would have been through the welfare system in the first year of introduction of the new model in 2020-21. Budgets are not yet set for years beyond Spending Review settlements but future funding allocations for short-term accommodation will take account of the costs of provision and demand for services. Our assessment of this will take account of local authority strategic plans for supported housing - these plans will include local current and future needs and provision assessments. It will also take account of any modelling and projections of required future provision that may prove helpful including the Department for Communities and Local Government and the Department of Health commissioned research by the Personal Social Services Research Unit of the London School of Economics (2017), Projected demand for supported housing in Great Britain 2015 to 2030, as referenced in our policy statement of 31 October.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what plans he has to address the shortfall in mental health supported housing.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
Government is committed to boosting the provision of much-needed supported housing. Since 2011, we have delivered 27,000 units of specialist and general housing for disabled, vulnerable and older people. We announced £400 million of funding through the Autumn 2015 Spending Review to deliver new specialist affordable homes. To date, the Department of Health has committed around £200 million to build over 6,000 supported homes through the Care and Support Specialised Housing (CASSH) Fund, again for older people, adults with physical disabilities, learning difficulties or mental health needs.
Our new funding model, announced on 31 October, retains funding for the two types of long-term supported housing in the welfare system – that is housing primarily for older people and housing for those who need on-going support, like vulnerable people with long-term mental ill health. This will give providers the certainty they need in order to invest in future supply.
In order to protect short-term supported housing provision, we are ring-fencing grant funding and intend to keep it ring-fenced into the long-term. Funding here will be at the same level it would have been through the welfare system in the first year of introduction of the new model in 2020-21. Budgets are not yet set for years beyond Spending Review settlements but future funding allocations for short-term accommodation will take account of the costs of provision and demand for services. Our assessment of this will take account of local authority strategic plans for supported housing - these plans will include local current and future needs and provision assessments. It will also take account of any modelling and projections of required future provision that may prove helpful including the Department for Communities and Local Government and the Department of Health commissioned research by the Personal Social Services Research Unit of the London School of Economics (2017), Projected demand for supported housing in Great Britain 2015 to 2030, as referenced in our policy statement of 31 October.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, whether his Department actively encourages registered providers or local councils to pursue or support mergers between social housing providers.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
It is for the Board of a housing association to make these decisions. The Housing White Paper published in February encouraged housing associations to make every effort to improve their efficiency, in order to release additional resources for house-building.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the merits of mergers between registered providers of social housing.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
It is for the Board of a housing association to make these decisions. The Housing White Paper published in February encouraged housing associations to make every effort to improve their efficiency, in order to release additional resources for house-building.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect of help to rent projects de-risking the private rented sector for homeless households.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
Help to rent projects play an important role in enabling homeless people to access the private rented sector. My officials and I are currently considering the effectiveness of existing projects operating across the country.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Five Year Forward View for Mental Health, published in February 2016, what progress has been made on building the evidence base on specialist housing support for vulnerable people with mental health problems.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
Developing a workable and sustainable funding model for supported housing is a priority for the Government. We have been listening to the sector through our earlier public consultation on this issue, and we have also been taking stock of the joint DCLG/DWP Select Committee report on supported housing. We know the supported housing sector needs certainty to help it continue to plan and deliver new much needed supported housing. We will set out further details on our plans later in the autumn.
The Government welcomed the Mental Health Taskforce’s report, the 'Five Year Forward View for Mental Health', and accepted all of the recommendations in its response to this report in January 2017, noting (as regards recommendation 10) that the case for using specialist housing support for vulnerable people with mental ill health is already established, and that the challenge now would be to translate this into action. To date, the Department of Health has committed around £200 million through the Care and Support Specialised Housing Fund, to build over 6,000 new homes, including for people will mental ill health.
The ‘Supported Accommodation Review’, which was jointly commissioned by DCLG and DWP and published in November 2016, estimated the scale, scope and cost of the supported housing sector in Great Britain, across a wide range of client groups including housing for people with mental ill health. The review found that units of supported housing for those with mental health support needs accounted for approximately 5% of total provision of supported accommodation (equating to approximately 33,000 units across Great Britain). A link to the review is here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/supported-accommodation-review.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, when he plans formally to respond to the Work and Pensions and Communities and Local Government Select Committees' joint report on the future of supported housing.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
Developing a workable and sustainable funding model for supported housing is a priority for the Government. We have been listening to the sector through our earlier public consultation on this issue, and we have also been taking stock of the joint DCLG/DWP Select Committee report on supported housing. We know the supported housing sector needs certainty to help it continue to plan and deliver new much needed supported housing. We will set out further details on our plans later in the autumn.
The Government welcomed the Mental Health Taskforce’s report, the 'Five Year Forward View for Mental Health', and accepted all of the recommendations in its response to this report in January 2017, noting (as regards recommendation 10) that the case for using specialist housing support for vulnerable people with mental ill health is already established, and that the challenge now would be to translate this into action. To date, the Department of Health has committed around £200 million through the Care and Support Specialised Housing Fund, to build over 6,000 new homes, including for people will mental ill health.
The ‘Supported Accommodation Review’, which was jointly commissioned by DCLG and DWP and published in November 2016, estimated the scale, scope and cost of the supported housing sector in Great Britain, across a wide range of client groups including housing for people with mental ill health. The review found that units of supported housing for those with mental health support needs accounted for approximately 5% of total provision of supported accommodation (equating to approximately 33,000 units across Great Britain). A link to the review is here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/supported-accommodation-review.