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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of whether homelessness services are accessible to, and adequate for, older people.

England has a strong homelessness safety net, providing protection to the most vulnerable in our society so they always have a roof over their heads.

This Government is investing over £500 million in the next four years to prevent and tackle all forms of homelessness. This includes protecting £315 million for local authority prevention funding, and £149 million central government funding.

We recognise that homelessness amongst older people has its particular challenges, and we know how important it is that when people are faced with a homelessness situation, they have somewhere to go and experts to talk to. Frontline staff need to be equipped to provide this service and getting the right training is one part of this. That is why we have provided £2 million for the Gold Standard Scheme, delivered by the National Practitioner Support Service, to help local authorities deliver more effective homelessness prevention.

We have also funded the National Homelessness Advice Service, delivered by Shelter and Citizens Advice, to ensure that frontline housing advisers have access to the best quality professional advice to help vulnerable people.

Of course, we are always keeping policies under review to ensure they are working for everyone.