Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the interim evaluation of the Housing First pilots in (a) Greater Manchester, (b) Merseyside and (c) the West Midlands; and when he plans to publish the findings of that evaluation.

Housing First?has?an?impressive international record in helping people with complex needs to recover and stay off the streets for good, which is why we awarded £28?million?to pilot Housing First at scale in three?urban?areas?with contrasting challenges?(the West Midlands, Greater Manchester and?Liverpool?City Region). Alongside this, we?commissioned a consortium, led by ICF, to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the programme, which will run?for the duration?of the pilots.

We recognise that rough sleeping is a nationwide challenge, and that is why it is important that we consider the findings of our evaluation, together with our experiences from the three pilots, to ensure that we know how it could work best on a larger scale.?The Government is committed to building a robust evaluation and will be publishing the interim evaluation report in due course.

The Housing First pilots are now in their third year. ?Since their launch, our expert advisers have been working closely with each of the three pilot regions to closely monitor and support progress.