Select committee: Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee
Recommendation 3
1st Report - Protecting rough sleepers and renters: Interim Report
Published 22 May 2020
Paragraph 17
Addressed to Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
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Recommendation (the committee's words)
The Government must ensure that rough sleepers do not end up back on the streets due to a lack of suitable housing. We recommend the Government act to boost the immediate availability of appropriate supported housing, by providing targeted grant funding for councils and housing associations to acquire properties. The Department should work with the Local Government Association and the National Housing Federation and others on the design of this scheme, including how to target it at both existing properties and those close to completion which may no longer be in demand, using the National Clearing House Scheme from 2008 as a starting point. We also ask the Government to remove restrictions on Right to Buy receipts, so councils can use different pots of funding together and use 100% of sales to fund these acquisitions, as well as extending the deadline for their use from three years to five years.
From: Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee, 1st Report - Protecting rough sleepers and renters: Interim Report (HC 309), paragraph 17, 22 May 2020
Government response
Government Response to the Committee's report on Protecting Rough Sleepers and Renters
The government responded to the whole report on 30 June 2020 (deadline 22 July 2020).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The Government agrees that the momentum on supporting rough sleepers "must not be lost" and sets out measures taken, while committing to tenancy reform "in due course" rather than on the Committee's timetable.
- On a housing-led solution, it "agrees that for many rough sleepers a housing-led solution with provision for wrap-around support is required", citing £160 million in 2020/21 to support up to 6,000 rough sleepers into longer term accommodation, with 3,300 units available in the next 12 months.
- On Housing First, it will consider the findings of its evaluation together with the pilot outcomes, which "will therefore help to inform the next steps for the programme".
- On evictions, it points to existing measures and says it is "exploring a number of options, including a pre-action protocol" for possession claims by private landlords. The response does not commit to the legislation the Committee proposed.
- On abolishing section 21, it "remains committed to tenancy reform" but will proceed "at the appropriate time", and expects to respond fully to the consultation "once the urgent concerns of this emergency have passed".
Government Response to the Committee's interim report on protecting rough sleepers
Published 30 June 2020.