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

To ask Her Majesty's Government what statutory help, if any, they have provided to Emmaus communities in England and Wales over the last 10 years.

The Government recently announced £422 million in funding to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping in 2020/21, an increase of £54 million on 2019/20. We do not hold specific data on statutory help offered to Emmaus Communities, but this funding enables local authorities to work closely with charities and local organisations including through our faith communities.

Charities, and the thousands of people who volunteer with them, make a real difference to vulnerable people’s lives. We all need to work together to break the homelessness cycle.

The Homelessness Reduction Act, the most ambitious reform to homelessness legislation in decades, came into force on 3 April 2018. This new Act places statutory duties on local authorities and other public bodies to work together to actively prevent homelessness for people at risk. Local authorities must offer meaningful assistance to anyone who is threatened with homelessness, and to work with those who are already homeless to enable them to secure housing.

Acting earlier and for a broader range of people means more people will get the help they need before they face a homelessness crisis. Local authorities must now work with people at risk of losing their homes to develop personalised housing plans, tailored to focus on the needs and circumstances of the household.

We have overhauled the statutory homelessness data collection alongside the introduction of the Homelessness Reduction Act. This will give us better insights into the causes of homelessness and the support people need. The new statutory homelessness data collection is called H-CLIC.