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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment she has made of the viability of potential options available to her Department for supporting local authorities that cannot provide a sufficient amount of temporary accommodation for people without a home and are consequently relying on hotels.

The Government recognises that homelessness levels are far too high and that this can have a devastating impact on those involved, as well as placing financial strain on councils. Local authorities have reported the costs of providing temporary accommodation for 2023/24. This information is available at the ‘Revenue outturn housing services (RO4)’ tables at Local authority revenue expenditure and financing England: 2023 to 2024 individual local authority data - outturn - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

We must address homelessness levels and deliver long term solutions. The Government will look at these issues carefully and will develop a new cross-government strategy, working with mayors, councils and key stakeholders across the country to get us back on track to ending homelessness once and for all.

More widely, we are taking action to tackle the root causes of homelessness. This includes delivering the biggest increase in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation, building 1.5 million new homes over the next Parliament, and abolishing Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions which will prevent private renters being exploited and discriminated against and empower people to challenge unreasonable rent increases. The Government has also confirmed £450 million for a third round of the Local Authority Housing Fund which will support local authorities to obtain better quality temporary accommodation for homeless families.