Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will carry out a review of the adequacy of statutory assistance given to single homeless people.

We have no current plans to change or review the homelessness legislation. England has one of the strongest safety nets in the world and local authorities are required to secure accommodation for any eligible person who finds themselves homeless through no fault of their own and who is in priority need. In 2013-14 23% of all those accepted by local authorities as owed the main homelessness duty were single homeless people. Local authorities are also under a duty to provide free advice and information about homelessness and preventing homelessness to anyone in their district seeking help.

This Government has increased investment in homelessness services over the lifetime of this Parliament. We have invested over £500 million to support local authorities and voluntary sector agencies to help the most vulnerable in our society. We have launched an £8 million Help for Single Homeless Fund for local authorities which will improve council services for single people facing the prospect of homelessness. 34 projects, working across 168 local authorities will provide support for up 22,000 single homeless people. We are helping single homeless people find and sustain accommodation in the private rented sector through our £13 million funding to Crisis. By 2016 we expect the Crisis scheme to have helped 10,000 single homeless people since it started in 2010. Local authorities also work hard to prevent homelessness from happening in the first place. They have helped 700,000 households at risk of homelessness find new accommodation or stay in their own home since July 2010.