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

To ask His Majesty's Government what measures they are taking to assist Afghan refugees currently housed in poor-quality temporary accommodation.

The Government is working with councils to find families settled homes as quickly as possible. It is right that we take time to ensure that families are provided with suitable homes that support their integration and access to education and employment.

In addition to the funding local authorities receive for integration support costs, a £25.5million Housing Costs fund is available to local authorities to help meet the costs of housing. Funding provided to support integration can also be used towards costs needed to enable families to secure accommodation, including deposits and upfront rent, enabling families to fund their own accommodation.

We are working with Rightmove to identify potential properties available in the private rented sector. This provides councils with additional information to source appropriate properties. Our improved Housing Portal also allows property owners and organisations to submit offers of housing for people who have arrived from Afghanistan.

We are also working with councils to make it easier for Afghan families who are currently in bridging hotels to find and secure their own accommodation. We have formalised this as the 'Find Your Own Accommodation' pathway, and we have developed a supplementary training package to enable councils to support individuals and families throughout this process. We have also worked with the Ministry of Defence to make use of Service Family Accommodation and we are working directly with developers and educational bodies to consider alternative accommodation options.

We are working closely with local councils and voluntary and community sector partners to monitor the housing landscape for Ukrainian households, develop our strategy and actively explore options to find suitable long-term accommodation for those who are likely to stay in the UK beyond the initial six months. We have provided a tariff of £10,500 per arrival to councils to enable them to provide support to individuals and families. This is un-ringfenced, which allows councils to use the funding as best suits the local area, including measures to support guests to access the private rental market.