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

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to address homelessness and alleviate the financial strain on affected councils.

Government is committed to ending rough sleeping and reducing homelessness and is spending £2 billion over 2022-25 on this, including £1 billion in England via Homelessness Prevention Grant to help local authorities prevent homelessness and provide temporary accommodation. Government is increasing Local Housing Allowance to the 30th percentile of market rents from April and announced a further £120 million to help councils across UK address Ukraine and homelessness pressures in 2024/25.

Over the last three spending reviews, local government has seen real terms increases in Core Spending Power, and an injection of £5.1 billion last year, of which £3.1 billion was provided through central government grant. This year’s Local Government Finance Settlement will increase resources available to councils, on which we will set out more detail later this year. We recognise the challenges some face, and encourage any local authority with specific concerns about its ability to manage its budgets to come forward.