Prisoners' Release: Temporary Accommodation

(asked on 18th August 2021) - View Source

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what plans he has to expand the 84-night temporary accommodation scheme for prison leavers to the seven probation regions not included in the funding.


Answered by
Alex Chalk Portrait
Alex Chalk
Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
This question was answered on 10th September 2021

As part of our commitment to eliminate rough sleeping, we are working across Government, with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), the Welsh Government and other Government Departments, to address the barriers offenders face in securing suitable accommodation.

On 28 July 2021, the Government announced allocations for the Accommodation for Ex-Offenders scheme, with £13 million allocated to 87 schemes across 145 local authorities to support prison leavers to access private rented sector accommodation. Local authority-led schemes vary and include a mixture of funding deposits, insurance or landlord incentives to help people into their own home, as well as landlord liaison and ongoing tenancy support. The scheme has been developed, together with the Community Accommodation Service, to provide a pathway for prison leavers from prison into their own private rented sector accommodation. No public targets have been set, but local authorities will be providing monitoring information to the MHCLG alongside wider monitoring information on homelessness and rough sleeping.

The Community Accommodation Service is providing transitional housing for up to 84 nights for offenders under probation supervision in five Probation Service regions who are at risk of homelessness on release from prison. We are monitoring the impact of the scheme closely to inform decisions in relation to its development.

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