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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether his Department plans to publish further guidance to local authorities on how they should be accommodating (a) rough sleepers and (b) homeless people and families as part of the Government's response to the covid-19 outbreak.

MHCLG and our team of Expert Advisers are working closely with local authorities to inform and co-produce their ‘next steps’ plans, identifying local solutions for those individuals currently in hotels and other emergency accommodation. We have recently announced new funding, set out below, to help to resource these ‘next steps’ efforts and we will shortly be publishing detailed guidance to support local authorities to develop and bring forward proposals to the fund.

On 24 June, we announced that we are providing local authorities with a further £105 million to enable them to best support the c15,000 people placed into emergency accommodation during the COVID-19 pandemic. This commitment will help to ensure that as few of these people as possible return to the streets, by helping to secure tenancies, as well as provide short-term housing while plans for long-term homes continue at pace for those accommodated throughout the pandemic. The funding will cover a range of interventions, from moves into the private rented sector, to?extending?or procuring interim accommodation, such as hotels or student accommodation, and supporting individuals to reconnect with friends or family.

This funding is on top of the £433m that we announced on 24 May to provide thousands of additional long-term homes for vulnerable rough sleepers. Homes England, in partnership with MHCLG, have pledged to work hand in hand with leading Housing Associations and local authorities to deliver this. Further detailed information on the process to allocate this funding is being co-produced with partners and will be published in due course.

There are no current plans to change the statutory homelessness duties, beyond the extension of automatic priority need to domestic abuse victims, which the Secretary of State announced on 2 May. Local authorities’ duties include those under the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017 to seek to prevent and relieve homelessness for all eligible households, as well as responsibilities under Part 7 of the Housing Act 1996 to provide suitable accommodation for homeless households that are eligible, have a priority need for accommodation and are not homeless intentionally.