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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the financial impact on local authorities relying on out-of-area temporary accommodation placements.

Legislation and statutory guidance is clear that local authorities should, wherever possible, place homeless households within their own area, except where there are clear benefits for the person seeking assistance (for example, in cases of domestic abuse). However, in some areas where there is a limited supply of suitable accommodation it is sometimes necessary to place households in temporary accommodation outside the local area. This should be as near as possible to the original placing local authority.

We have published data on out-of-area placements, setting out which areas have received placements, the composition of households placed out of area and the type of accommodation they are placed into. You can find this data in the detailed local authority table (tables TA9 onwards) here.

The published data show the local authority where the household is owed a duty and the region where a local authority places a household. The Department does not collect more detailed information on out of area placements (for example, addresses) of temporary accommodation placements, and it is not possible to determine the exact, or average, distance of out-of-area placements.

Information on local authority spending is here, including the Revenue Outturn (RO4) return, which covers housing services and includes information on local authorities’ expenditure on homelessness activities. However, the Department does not collect information on the financial impact of out-of-area temporary accommodation placements.

The Department has committed to publish a Temporary Accommodation Toolkit which will cover a range of issues, including good practice on procurement to ensure an appropriate supply of suitable, local accommodation, and on mitigating negative impacts of out of area placements when they are unavoidable, including through appropriate notification and links to support.