Select committee inquiry
COVID-19: Housing rough sleepers
Closed
What the inquiry looked at
“Rough sleepers are often highly vulnerable, and typically have far more underlying health conditions than other members of society. Rough sleepers were especially vulnerable during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic , when their homelessness led to difficulties following Public Health England’s advice on self-isolation, social distancing and hygiene. In March 2020 the government announced a series of initiatives and funding to help get rough sleepers off the streets. This included £3.2 million for the ‘Everyone In’ initiative, which provided emergency funding for accommodation for both rough sleepers and those at risk of rough sleeping By May 2020, almost 15,000 people in England had been provided with emergency accommodation. The government also established a specialist task force to develop plans for ensuring that as few people as possible return to life on the streets after the COVID-19 pandemic. Local authorities have been provided with £105 million new funding this year to secure accommodation and support for those in emergency accommodation, with a further £160 million to speed up providing 3,300 new housing units for rough sleepers in the next 12 months. The Committee will question senior officials at the MHCLG, including the Rough Sleeping Taskforce, to examine the facts around the government’s rehousing of rough sleepers during the COVID-19 pandemic and government’s plans for solving rough sleeping in the longer term. If you have evidence on these issues, please submit it here by 6pm on Monday 18 January 2021.”
The committee's words, from the inquiry page on parliament.uk ↗.
What it found
In the committee's words, from the summary of Forty-Ninth Report - COVID-19: housing people sleeping rough ↗
The Everyone In initiative is a considerable achievement: the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (the Department), alongside local authorities and the voluntary sector moved at speed and with decisiveness to house people sleeping rough in spring 2020. In the first wave of the pandemic these actions may have avoided some 20,000 transmissions of COVID-19, while limiting deaths among this highly vulnerable population to an estimated 16. The scale of this achievement increased over the year, as growing numbers were helped under the initiative: by January 2021 the number of those who had been helped into accommodation had reached more than 37,000.
Nevertheless, this initiative has also exposed gaps in the Department’s approach to tackling rough sleeping. The Department has a target to end rough sleeping by May 2024, but does not have a strategy for achieving this outcome or maintaining it once met; nor does it have a clear understanding of how it will measure and report on progress. The scale of effort required to achieve this target may also be greater than previously suggested: the number of people accommodated in the first ten months of Everyone In (37,430) was nearly nine times the number of rough sleepers recorded in the Department’s last official snapshot before the start of the pandemic (4,266). This also raises further questions about whether the Department’s funding of local authorities to achieve its objectives is adequate and sufficiently long-term.
In some areas the Department lacks transparency and clarity in its communications.
Despite carrying out joint planning with the Home Office, it has not offered clear guidance on the policies it expects local authorities to take in respect of non-UK nationals who have no recourse to public funds. This includes those who have been temporarily housed under Everyone In, which is up to 50% of those staying in hotels in London. The Department has sometimes shown a disappointing evasiveness regarding the data it holds on key trends; for example, it has failed to publish the updated figures it has been collecting on numbers of people sleeping on the streets. In other cases it has failed to collect or study data it should be monitoring—for example, whether it is on track to provide the 3,300 homes for people sleeping rough it has promised by the end of the 2020–21 financial year.
What the government said
The government responded on 31 August 2021. The deadline was 17 May 2021.
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response.
The government agrees with the Committee's recommendations on staffing capacity, funding and reporting on the 3,300 homes programme, and disagrees with those on a draft strategy, data reporting and the plans and guidance on people with no recourse to public funds.
- On a draft strategy for ending rough sleeping by 2024, the government disagrees, but says the department "will consider a definition of what it means to end rough sleeping", including how the goal will be measured and evaluated.
- On quarterly reporting, the government disagrees, stating the monthly data is "a relatively new data source which must continue to be carefully considered and analysed". The department "will update the Committee on its progress towards ending rough sleeping regularly".
- On funding, the government agrees (target date Winter 2021). It says "Decisions on future funding will be a matter for the 2021 Spending Review", which will consider long-term value for money.
- On people with no recourse to public funds, the government disagrees with both recommendations. It says support is "a matter for" locally elected councils, which must use their judgement on an individual basis.
Read the government's response ↗ Read the report ↗ Report an error
How the inquiry ran
Each dot is a dated item listed on this page, from the inquiry's opening on 17 December 2020 to 31 August 2021. The dashed mark is the deadline Parliament records for the government's response.
- Oral evidence 25 Jan 2021
- Report 17 Mar 2021
- Government response 31 Aug 2021
- Correspondence 3 letters
What it recommended 7 recommendations · 14 conclusions
2The Department still does not have a plan for achieving its target of ending rough...
Recommended (the committee's words)
The Department still does not have a plan for achieving its target of ending rough sleeping by 2024, and risks failing to capitalise on the successes of Everyone In. Following the general election in December 2019 the government began this Parliament with a manifesto commitment to end rough sleeping by May 2024: only three years from now. This brought forward the government’s previous commitment, which had been to end rough sleeping by May 2027. In February 2020 the Department commissioned a review of its 2018 rough sleeping strategy towards meeting its new target but, owing to the prioritisation given to dealing with the pandemic, this has not yet been conducted. Not only does the Department not have a plan for ending rough sleeping by 2024, it also has not worked out how to define what ‘ending’ rough sleeping means or how it will measure and report on progress in a meaningful way. To end rough sleeping will certainly involve addressing the wider lack of availability of supported housing and affordable housing. The Department’s evidence shows that 80% of rough sleepers have mental health needs and a significant majority have substance abuse which underlines the importance of providing appropriate wraparound care to provide a sustainable pathway out of rough-sleeping. In 2017 this Committee recommended that the Department launch a cross-government strategy for addressing homelessness in the round, which could have helped it to address this issue, but it has so far failed to do so. Recommendation: The Department must, before summer recess, publish at least a draft strategy for how it will achieve its goal of ending rough sleeping by 2024. This should set out its definition of ‘ending’ rough sleeping, how it will measure and report progress in achieving and maintaining this goal, and the capacity of supported and affordable housing required to reduce the flow of people onto the streets towards zero for the long term.
3The size of the rough sleeping population and those at risk of rough sleeping is...
Recommended (the committee's words)
The size of the rough sleeping population and those at risk of rough sleeping is far higher than the snapshot the Department is relying on, exposing the inadequacy of its current approach to data collection and reporting. One consequence of 6 COVID-19: housing people sleeping rough Everyone In has been that for the first time the Department has publicly acknowledged the scale of the rough sleeping population over the course of a year. The number of people assisted under Everyone In from the end of March 2020 to the end of January 2021 (37,430) is nearly nine times the number in its official snapshot of the number of people sleeping rough on one night in autumn 2019 (4,266), its last such measure before the pandemic. This illustrates that there is a churn of people moving onto and off the streets during the year, something which cannot be captured by a single snapshot. In spite of the Everyone In initiative (and other measures, such as a ban on evictions in the private rental sector), this churn continued during 2020, with Data collected by the Department from local authorities apparently showing numbers of people on the streets growing again over the summer, although the number recorded in the official snapshot taken in autumn 2020 was 2,688, a reduction of 37% on the 2019 figure. In February 2021 the Department began publishing monthly rolling estimates of rough sleeping numbers, which should belatedly improve Parliament’s capacity to monitor the Department’s performance. The Department’s most recent snapshot shows that rough sleeping has fallen 43% with 2,688 people estimated to be sleeping rough on a single night in autumn 2020, compared to 4,677 in 2018. The Department must continually scrutinise and improve its own data collection system to make sure it is up to date in monitoring the rough sleeping population. Recommendation: To support proper accountability, the Department must ensure it continues to publish its monthly data on numbers of people sleeping roug
4The Department has provided a number of different funding streams to local authorities to cover...
Recommended (the committee's words)
The Department has provided a number of different funding streams to local authorities to cover the pandemic response for people sleeping rough, but many are short-term and reactive, and the Department does not have a cohesive long- term funding plan for its commitment to end rough sleeping. Local authorities expect to spend £192 million on rehousing people sleeping rough by the end of March 2021. The Department provided £4.6 billion between March and October 2020 to cover additional costs resulting from the COVID-19 response, but rough sleeping is only one of a number of priorities covered by this un-ringfenced funding. The Department also brought forward and augmented existing funding, with a total of £700 million available to local authorities for tackling homelessness in 2020–21. More recent funding announcements have seen a series of smaller amounts allocated as a reaction to immediate priorities, rather than to address a more strategic long- term plan, which would provide more certainty to the many small organisations in the voluntary sector working with people sleeping rough. These groups also face high levels of bureaucracy when applying for relatively small ad-hoc grants. Recommendation: To inform the review of its strategy, the Department should reassess the level of funding required to meet its target of ending rough sleeping and align all individual streams of funding for tackling rough sleeping to this end. This should address the importance of multi-year funding certainty for local authorities and the voluntary sector. In doing so, it should state how it will assess the long-term value for money of its spending on rough sleeping and COVID-19: housing people sleeping rough 7 homelessness, focusing on interventions which do most to reduce the long-term public costs associated with both rough sleeping and housing people in temporary accommodation.
5The Department has provided mixed messages to local authorities on how to support people sleeping...
Recommended (the committee's words)
The Department has provided mixed messages to local authorities on how to support people sleeping rough who have no recourse to public funds, and has no long-term plan for those who have been taken into hotels. Local authorities are generally not permitted to support non-UK nationals who legally have no recourse to public funds, or are otherwise ineligible for benefits, other than where there is a risk to life. At the outset of the pandemic the Department provided clear advice that, because of the risks to public health, local authorities should provide accommodation for all people sleeping rough irrespective of immigration status. Over the course of the year, however, the messaging it provided to local authorities became more ambiguous, and the approach they took to these cohorts of people became increasingly divergent. In particular, it appears that local authorities in London and the West Midlands are facing practical and financial difficulties regarding their support for these cohorts, with around 50% of those staying in hotels in London being recorded as having no recourse to public funds at the beginning of winter 2020–21. The Department has not been able to say what actions local authorities should take with respect to this cohort of people once the pandemic has abated, nor has it provided clarity on the implications of its recent work with the Home Office on plans to address immigration issues related to rough sleeping. The Department must do more to support those with no recourse to public-funds. Recommendation: Within two months the Department should publish details of its agreed plans with the Home Office to address rough sleeping and immigration issues together, and provide clear guidance to local authorities on what this means for the support they offer this cohort, including those staying in hotels under Everyone In.
6It is uncertain whether the Department will meet its objective of providing 3,300 homes for...
Recommended (the committee's words)
It is uncertain whether the Department will meet its objective of providing 3,300 homes for people sleeping rough by the end of March 2021. Under its Rough Sleeper Accommodation Programme, the Department has distributed £161 million funding against bids from local authorities for the provision of 3,300 homes for housing people sleeping rough. Contrary to what it previously told us, the Department expects the majority of these homes to involve the leasing or purchasing of existing buildings (though sometimes involving significant renovation), rather than new additions to the housing stock. It expects people to stay in them on average for two years. The Department has not published or provided us with details on how these homes will contribute to its target of ending rough sleeping, or what further accommodation will be available for people to move into once their stay in these homes comes to an end. At the time we took evidence, in late January 2021, the Department was unable to provide any figures on the number of homes that had already been provided and occupied, nor how many it was on track to provide by the end of the financial year. Recommendation: The Department should write to us within two months on the progress it is making in securing 3,300 homes under its Rough Sleeper Accommodation Programme, and include details on how it will ensure the availability of the supported and affordable housing required for people to move into, once their stay in these homes comes to an end. 8 COVID-19: housing people sleeping rough 1 Rough sleeping strategy Introduction
1On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, we took evidence...
Concluded (the committee's words)
On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, we took evidence from the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (the Department).1 We also took evidence from Baroness Casey, who temporarily led the Department’s pandemic response in respect of people sleeping rough in spring and summer 2020.
7Notwithstanding the evident successes of Everyone In in the first wave of the pandemic, the...
Concluded (the committee's words)
Notwithstanding the evident successes of Everyone In in the first wave of the pandemic, the National Audit Office noted that the Department’s response to the resurgence of COVID-19 in autumn and winter 2020 did not appear as comprehensive as in the spring. The NAO suggested that the Department would need to keep under close review whether it was protecting vulnerable individuals as decisively as in the early stages of the pandemic.19 Emerging data from the second wave of the pandemic is concerning, with reports of a sharp rise in cases of COVID-19 among the rough sleeping population in London in December 2020 and January 2021.20 Anecdotal reports suggest a contributory factor may have been an apparent rise during the second wave in the use of—and occupancy rates within—hostels with some communal facilities.21 9 Qq 3, 16; C&AG’s Report, para 1.15. 10 D Lewer et al., ‘COVID-19 among people experiencing homelessness in England: a modelling study’, The Lancet Respiratory Medicine, vol. 8 issue 12, December 2020, pp. 1181–91. 11 Office for National Statistics, Coronavirus and deaths of homeless people, England and Wales: deaths registered up to 26 June 2020, 10 July 2020. 12 Q 15; C&AG’s Report, para 1.10. 13 C&AG’s Report, para 1.10. 14 Qq 14, 17–18. 15 Qq 15, 20. 16 C&AG’s Report, para 1.12. 17 Qq 19–20. 18 C&AG’s Report, para 2.20. 19 C&AG’s Report, para 20(c). 20 [Institute of Epidemiology and Health Care, University College London]. 21 [Institute of Epidemiology and Health Care, University College London]. 10 COVID-19: housing people sleeping rough Rough sleeping target and strategy
8The Department’s current Rough Sleeping Strategy was launched in August 2018, with a commitment to...
Recommended (the committee's words)
The Department’s current Rough Sleeping Strategy was launched in August 2018, with a commitment to end rough sleeping by 2027.22 In December 2019 the new Government was elected with a manifesto commitment to end rough sleeping by May 2024, three years earlier than the previous target.23 Following the adoption of this accelerated target, the Department recognised the need to review its existing strategy.24 In December it successfully asked Baroness Casey to lead a review; this was announced in February 2020, with work expected to get underway sometime after Easter 2020.25 Owing to the prioritisation given to COVID-19 from March 2020 onwards, plans for this review were put on hold, and have not since been revived.26 The Rough Sleeping Strategy, accordingly, remains out of date.27
9In our evidence session the Department was unable to define exactly what it meant by...
Concluded (the committee's words)
In our evidence session the Department was unable to define exactly what it meant by the commitment “to end” rough sleeping; nor was it able to state clearly whether it was on track to meet this target, or how it would measure and report on it.28 This is a failure on the Department’s part, for which it cannot blame the pandemic. While the new target date for ending rough sleeping may only have been established in December 2019, the overall target to end rough sleeping had been in place since the launch of the Rough Sleeping Strategy in summer 2018. Essential elements, such as how the target was to be defined and success measured, should all have been established then.
10Tackling rough sleeping on its own without addressing homelessness as a whole may even worsen...
Recommended (the committee's words)
Tackling rough sleeping on its own without addressing homelessness as a whole may even worsen other measures of homelessness, if it means only placing more people in temporary accommodation, thereby adding to the number of homeless households.29 Baroness Casey told us that, in her opinion, not only was a review of the Rough Sleeping Strategy still needed, but there should be a more expansive review which took into account “wider aspects of homelessness, particularly families in temporary accommodation”.30 This would be in line with both the previous recommendations of this Committee and the Department’s commitments in response. In 2017 this Committee recommended that the Department “publish a cross-government strategy for reducing […] all measures of homelessness”.31 The Department accepted this recommendation, announcing its plans to publish a strategy for rough sleeping as only a first step, and promising subsequently to “develop a broader strategy to ensure progress is made on wider issues relating to all forms of homelessness and homelessness prevention”.32 It has yet to implement this commitment. That the Department’s 2024 target is explicitly framed as ending rough sleeping implies not just the housing of all those on the streets at a particular point in time, but a long-term, sustainable reduction in factors which have historically caused people to start sleeping 22 Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government, Rough Sleeping Strategy, August 2018, Cm 9685, para 1. 23 Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government, “Prime Minister pledges new action to eliminate homelessness and rough sleeping”, press release, 23 December 2019. 24 C&AG’s Report, para 2.21. 25 Q 14. 26 C&AG’s Report, para 2.21. 27 C&AG’s Report, para 18. 28 Qq 70–71. 29 House of Commons Library, Statutory homelessness in England, Briefing Paper 01164, 26 November 2020, p 3. 30 Q 67. 31 Public Accounts Committee, Homeless households, Eleventh Report of Session 2017–19, HC 462, Decem
11The Department publishes one official measure of rough sleeping, its annual snapshot, which estimates the...
Concluded (the committee's words)
The Department publishes one official measure of rough sleeping, its annual snapshot, which estimates the number of people sleeping rough on one night every autumn.34 The latest annual snapshot of figure before the pandemic, taken in autumn 2019 was 4,266.35 In contrast, the number of people assisted under Everyone In after ten months (from the end of March 2020 to the end of January 2021) was 37,430, nearly nine times higher.36 The Department told us it was not surprising that there was a significant difference between the two numbers: the 4,266 snapshot is a measure of the “stock” of people sleeping on the streets at that particular moment in time, whereas the 37,430 figure captures the “flow” of people moving onto the streets (and then into emergency or settled accommodation) over a period of months.37 Another reason for the discrepancy is that the 37,430 figure includes those who would otherwise have been bedding down in communal night shelters, as well as others who were adjudged to be at risk of sleeping rough, groups who are excluded from the snapshot figures.38 The Department was clear that the snapshot provided a robust measure that allowed for year on-year comparisons, but that it did not reflect the total population of people sleeping rough over the course of a year.39
12In June 2020 the Department began regular data collections from local authorities on numbers of...
Concluded (the committee's words)
In June 2020 the Department began regular data collections from local authorities on numbers of people sleeping rough in their area.40 In spite of the Everyone In initiative (and other measures, such as a ban on evictions in the private rental sector), there were reports of increasing numbers of people sleeping on the streets over summer and autumn 2020.41 The data gathered by the Department apparently confirms the upward trend over this period.42 At the start of December the Department told us it was considering potential options for publication of this data.43 It has not published any of this data covering the summer or autumn of 2020, but in February 2021 it began publishing monthly data for rough sleeping numbers, beginning in December 2020. At our evidence session, the Department was confident that at the time the most recent snapshot was taken, in autumn 2020, the numbers of people sleeping rough were significantly lower than in 2019.44 This was confirmed, in February 2021, when the 2020 snapshot was published: this recorded rough sleeping figures of 2,688, a reduction of 37% from the 2019 snapshot.45 33 Public Accounts Committee, Homeless households, Eleventh Report of Session 2017–19, HC 462, December 2017, conclusions 3–4. 34 C&AG’s Report, Figure 1. 35 Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government, Rough sleeping snapshot in England: autumn 2019, 27 February 2020. 36 C&AG’s Report, para 2.1. 37 Q 47. 38 Q 47; C&AG’s Report, para 2.3. 39 Q 47. 40 C&AG’s Report, para 2.9. 41 Q 54; C&AG’s Report, para 2.8. 42 C&AG’s Report, para 2.9. 43 Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government, Letter from Jeremy Pocklington CB to Meg Hillier MP, 2 December 2020. 44 Q 6. 45 Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government, Rough sleeping snapshot in England: autumn 2020, 25 February 2020. 12 COVID-19: housing people sleeping rough 2 Funding and policy implementation Funding during the pandemic
13As of January 2021, local authorities said they were expecting to spend an extra £192...
Concluded (the committee's words)
As of January 2021, local authorities said they were expecting to spend an extra £192 million in the 2020–21 financial year, in respect of additional spending on homelessness and rough sleeping as a result of the pandemic.46 The Department considers that it has reimbursed local authorities for the costs paid out so far, with funding provided as part of wider support to local government and their finances over the past year.47 As of December 2020, the Department had distributed £4.6 billion in un-ringfenced funding to local authorities to cover all of their additional spending related to the pandemic, although we note that rough sleeping is just one among several other priorities to be covered by this funding.48
14In addition, the Department is providing around £700 million for rough sleeping and homelessness in...
Concluded (the committee's words)
In addition, the Department is providing around £700 million for rough sleeping and homelessness in 2020–21, with the majority of this funding distributed through local authorities.49 Before the pandemic, the Department had planned to spend £495 million in 2020–21, as announced in previous spending rounds and the 2020 Budget.50 The Department told us that, as a result of the crisis, it had increased the funding available with £225 million of new money. This is a combination of money brought forward to 2020–21 that it had planned to spend in future years, and additional funding provided as part of its Next Steps Accommodation Programme.51 The Department has confirmed that it will make £750 million available to Local Authorities for tackling homelessness in 2021–22.52
15Since October 2020, the Department has made a series of smaller funding commitments for the...
Concluded (the committee's words)
Since October 2020, the Department has made a series of smaller funding commitments for the winter months, including a £10 million Cold Weather Fund, £12 million Protect Programme and £10 million in January 2021 for extra COVID protection for people sleeping rough.53 The Department told us that in its consideration local authorities had adequate funding to protect people sleeping rough over the winter months, but was keeping this under review.54 We heard from local authorities and voluntary organisations that, while this money would address immediate priorities, the short- term nature of the funding plus the bureaucracy and process involved in applying for grants, meant it was difficult for organisations to plan the support they could offer with any certainty.55 Baroness Casey also noted that announcing larger sums over a strategic period of time was much easier for the voluntary sector than “£10 million here and £10 million there”.56 The Department recognised that providing more certainty of funding over a longer time scale was important, as it understood the importance of continuity and stability for the voluntary sector. It asserted it was doing the best it could within current constraints, pointing to the Rough Sleeping Initiative funding, which it has confirmed 46 Q 21. 47 Q 21. 48 C&AG’s Report, para 1.13. 49 Qq 4, 21. 50 https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/spending-review-2020-documents/spending-review-2020 51 Q 24. 52 Q 5. 53 C&AG’s Report, Figure 5. 54 Q 1. 55 Qq 5, 25. 56 Q 18. COVID-19: housing people sleeping rough 13 will not reduce next year. It told us that announcements covering funding over a longer time-scale would be made in the Spending Review next year.57 The Department also considered that providing the majority of its funding through local authorities (i.e. rather than directly to voluntary groups) remained the best approach, as it enables councils to tailor their approach to tackling rough sleeping to best fit the needs of the local ar
16The immigration status of people sleeping rough who are non-UK nationals can affect their legal...
Concluded (the committee's words)
The immigration status of people sleeping rough who are non-UK nationals can affect their legal entitlement to benefits. In some cases these are immigrants from countries outside the European Economic Area (EEA), whose visas impose the condition that they have ‘no recourse to public funds’.59 Other sub-groups of non-UK nationals may also be legally restricted from claiming certain benefits, and are also often referred to under the heading ‘no recourse to public funds’ (although strictly speaking they do not fall within that category).60 Local authorities may legally bring people sleeping rough from all these groups into emergency accommodation if, following an individual assessment, they understand there to be a risk to life, such as during extreme winter weather.61
17At the outset of Everyone In, the Department gave a clear message to local authorities...
Concluded (the committee's words)
At the outset of Everyone In, the Department gave a clear message to local authorities that, as this was a public health emergency, they were to bring everyone in (“whether they are from Bromley or Portugal”), irrespective of immigration status or entitlement to benefits.62 At the end of May, however, this messaging became more ambiguous, with the Department writing to local authorities to remind them that they could only legally accommodate people who were ineligible for benefits following an individual assessment of risks to life.63 The Department denied that it had in mind a particular number, in terms of a reduction in support for people with no recourse to public funds, that it wanted to achieve by sending this letter.64 From this point, however, the support offered by different local authorities to these cohorts of people became increasingly divergent, with some ceasing to take in new people or seeking to move on those who were already in emergency accommodation.65 The Department implied to us that this divergence purely reflected the differing progress of the pandemic in different parts of the country, rather than differing approaches taken by local authorities within the same area and faced with similar levels of demand.66 Some local authorities, meanwhile, experienced difficulties in supporting people from these cohorts to move into more settled accommodation, because of their ineligibility for benefits: this meant they were unable to receive Local Housing Allowance and other assistance to move into the private rental sector, for instance.67 Baroness Casey confirmed to us that, under current rules, local authorities were unable to help these cohorts of people to move into more settled accommodation.68 At the end of September, there were around 2,000 people staying in hotels and other emergency accommodation in London 57 Qq 25, 5. 58 Q 3. 59 C&AG’s Report, para 2.10. 60 Q 33; C&AG’s Report, para 2.10. 61 C&AG’s Report, para 2.10. 62 Q 44. 63 Ministry of Hous
18At out evidence session the Department was unable to answer several of our queries about...
Concluded (the committee's words)
At out evidence session the Department was unable to answer several of our queries about these cohorts. It told us it believed that people sleeping rough with no recourse to public funds would be eligible to receive vaccinations against COVID-19, but that it was not leading on this issue, and had not focused on these cohorts in particular in planning for people sleeping rough to be vaccinated.71 The Department did not have any information about how much money local authorities had spent on supporting these cohorts since the start of the pandemic.72 Nor did it have any data on how many from these cohorts was currently being supported in emergency accommodation.73 Once the immediate threat to life had lifted, the Department suggested there might be a range of options available to local authorities to support people who had been staying in emergency accommodation, but it was unable to provide general advice on what local authorities could lawfully do.74 The Department did not provide us with any details when we asked about what would change as a result of the joint planning it has been carrying out with the Home Office to help end rough sleeping among the non-UK population.75 Rough Sleeper Accommodation Programme
19Under its Rough Sleeper Accommodation Programme, the Department has distributed £161 million funding against bids...
Concluded (the committee's words)
Under its Rough Sleeper Accommodation Programme, the Department has distributed £161 million funding against bids from local authorities for the provision of 3,300 homes for housing rough sleepers.76 In October the Department led us to believe the majority of these homes would be new housing, that is, additions to the housing stock.77 In our recent evidence session, however, it clarified that the vast majority would be acquisitions or refurbishments of existing housing (albeit some would be refurbishments of “moribund stock”).78
20The Department described these 3,300 homes as “move-on” accommodation, although it made clear its assumption...
Concluded (the committee's words)
The Department described these 3,300 homes as “move-on” accommodation, although it made clear its assumption that residents would stay for an average of two years before needing to move on somewhere else. It did not clarify what its plans were for where they would move on to at the end of this period.79
21As of September 2020 the Department was reasonably confident that all 3,300 homes would be...
Concluded (the committee's words)
As of September 2020 the Department was reasonably confident that all 3,300 homes would be completed by its target date of 31 March 2021.80 In our evidence session the 69 C&AG’s Report, para 2.12. 70 Q 41. 71 Qq 31–2. 72 Q 34. 73 Q 40. 74 Q 42. 75 Q 46; C&AG’s Report, para 2.13. 76 C&AG’s Report, para 2.19. 77 Public Accounts Committee, Oral evidence: Starter Homes, HC 88, 22 October 2020, Qq 3–7. 78 Q 56. 79 Q 57. 80 C&AG’s Report, paras 2.19–20. COVID-19: housing people sleeping rough 15 Department told us it was its aim to have the vast majority of these homes to be ready by this date.81 However, it was unable to state how many were already completed, nor to provide any figures for how many it projected would be ready by the end of March.82 81 Q 50. 82 Qq 55–6, 58. 16 COVID-19: housing people sleeping rough
Evidence
Oral evidence sessions 1
- 25 Jan 2021COVID-19: Housing rough sleepers3 witnesses, listed belowparliament.uk ↗
Who gave evidence 3 witnesses
- Baroness Casey of BlackstockFormer Chair, Rough Sleeping Taskforce
- Jeremy PocklingtonPermanent Secretary, Ministry of Defence
- Penny HobmanDirector for Homelessness and Rough Sleeping, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
Correspondence 3 letters
- 15 Jun 2021Correspondence from Jeremy Pocklington CB, Permanent Secretary Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government, re Public Accounts Committee 49th Report. COVID-19: housing people sleeping rough – Update on Recommendation 6, dated 2 June 2021
- 1 Mar 2021Correspondence from Sir Chris Wormald, Permanent Secretary, Department of Health and Social Care, re Vaccination against COVID-19 for outreach workers helping rough sleepers, dated 23 February 2021
- 23 Feb 2021Correspondence from Public Accounts Committee Chair Meg Hillier to Sir Chris Wormald KCB Permanent Secretary, Department of Health and Social Care, re Vaccination against COVID-19 for outreach workers helping rough sleeper, dated 12 February 2021