Homelessness

(asked on 28th August 2020) - View Source

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy for homeless people under probation supervision of the length of the 56 day relief stage within the Homelessness code of guidance for local authorities.


Answered by
Lucy Frazer Portrait
Lucy Frazer
Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
This question was answered on 8th September 2020

Everyone leaving prison should have somewhere safe and secure to live; accommodation enables offenders to hold down a job and reduces the likelihood of them reoffending

Offenders face significant barriers to securing suitable accommodation, often linked to their lack of access to necessary funds, availability of local authority housing supply and affordability/access to private rented sector.

However, overcoming these barriers is something that Ministry of Justice cannot do in isolation and we will work together with Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), Welsh Government and Other Government Departments, to address this issue, ensuring an effective contribution towards the Governments goal to eliminate rough sleeping by the end of the current Parliament.

As part of its COVID-19 response, HMPPS set up seven Homelessness Prevention Taskforces to work with local authorities and other partners to find accommodation for offenders released from prison. The taskforces are still active and HMPPS is considering how to continue the work that they have carried out during the pandemic in the long-term.

MHCLG are currently undertaking a review of the implementation of the Homelessness Reduction Act (HRA), including the resourcing of it and how it is working in practice, this includes looking at the duty to refer. This review will include evidence from several local authorities and charities on their experiences of the act and where they believe there is space for improvement.

HMPPS recently completed a review of its own referral process and has refreshed the supporting policy framework as well as undertaking a series of training events in conjunction with the National Homelessness Advice Service, to broaden awareness, knowledge and improving our referral processes. Lessons learnt from the HMPPS internal review will feed into the wider MHCLG review.

The HRA is helping more people to get help earlier, particularly single people who often would not have received help in the past and would have been at risk of sleeping on our streets. Since the introduction of the Act, over 100,000 households whose relief duty ended, were helped to find accommodation for six+ months.

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