Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make an assessment of the impact of the Housing First programme on levels of offending behaviour.

Following the Government’s manifesto commitment to expand Housing First, DLUHC launched three Housing First pilots in the West Midlands (WMCA), Greater Manchester (GMCA) and Liverpool City Region (LCRCA) in May 2018. Since then, DLUHC’s expert advisers have been working closely with each of the three pilot regions to monitor and support progress.

DLUHC has published several evaluation reports during the pilots’ lifetime and will publish a final synthesis report following the pilots’ end. The evaluation will include findings on offending history and contact with the criminal justice system. DLUHC will use the findings of their evaluation of the Housing First pilots, together with their experiences from the three pilots, to inform next steps.

The Ministry of Justice will collaborate with DLUHC to contribute to the development of the next steps for Housing First to ensure that those with an history of offending are supported effectively through the service going forward.

The evaluation reports are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/housing-first-pilot-national-evaluation-reports.