Oral Answers to Questions

Philip Hollobone Excerpts

Monday 17th December 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Prisk]

The right hon. Lady is right to make it a personal issue, because it is a personal issue, which is why last week I spent time with rough sleepers, who were out on the streets at night, to see for myself exactly the point she raises. I say to her that we are dealing with homelessness at its root, which means we are making sure we have a proper safety net that we have strengthened by making it easier to take people into settled and not temporary accommodation. It is why we are making sure that more people are going into work, so that they do not find themselves in difficulty, and we are making sure that we expand the private rental sector and build more homes. Sadly, I have to say that we saw the number of social homes in this country fall by nearly half a million under the last Labour Government.

[Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con)]

As a member of Kettering borough council, may I share with the Minister the good news that in 2011 in the borough of Kettering, in a population of 90,000, there were only 76 valid homelessness applications? That is half the number of the peak in 2007 and is largely due to the very good efforts of John Conway and the housing team at Kettering borough council in providing support to tenants to prevent homelessness in the first place.

[Mr Prisk]

I strongly endorse Mr Conway’s work. The key word is prevention: that is the challenge and it is why, working with the charities, we are acting to prevent homelessness by dealing with its root causes and some of the issues behind it.