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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he will take to support the London Borough of Redbridge in tackling rough sleeping beyond April 2021.

The Government has made clear that no one should be without a roof over their head, which is why we have committed to end rough sleeping. In total, we are spending over £700 million in 2020/21 on homelessness and rough sleeping.

We are also putting in place an unprecedented level of support to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping over 2021/22. This includes £676 million in resource funding, a 60% increase compared to the Spending Review in 2019.

The Government will also commit £87 million of capital funding in 2021/22, primarily to support the delivery of long-term accommodation for rough sleepers as announced at Budget 2020. This means the Government will be spending over £750m to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping next year.

Redbridge has had significant investment as part of this and has been receiving Rough Sleeping Initiative (RSI) funding since the launch of the programme in 2018, including £625,000 for 2020/21. The MHCLG adviser teams are currently working closely with Redbridge to develop interventions for the next RSI bidding round in 2021/22.

Redbridge also received £216,000 in funding through the Protect Programme this winter which has enabled them to support their most vulnerable and longer-term rough sleepers, as well as £140,000 through the Cold Weather Fund. They received £5,257,937 for 2021/22 through the Homelessness Prevention Grant. They were also successful in the last Rough Sleeping Accommodation Programme (RSAP) bidding round and are currently working on mobilising these units.