4
Recommendation
Forty-Ninth Report - COVID-19: housing …
Accepted in Part
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 …
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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.
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Government response AI summary
The government agrees with the recommendation to reassess funding and streamline streams, committing to combine two homelessness grants into one for 2022, while deferring decisions on multi-year funding certainty to the 2021 Spending Review. The department also commits to using evaluation tools to improve value …
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HM Treasury
9
Conclusion
Forty-Ninth Report - COVID-19: housing …
Accepted in Part
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 …
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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.
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Government response AI summary
The government disagrees with the committee's criticism but states it will consider a definition for ending rough sleeping, including how the goal will be measured and evaluated.
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HM Treasury
15
Conclusion
Forty-Ninth Report - COVID-19: housing …
Accepted in Part
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 …
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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
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Government response AI summary
The government agrees with the implied recommendation to streamline funding, committing to combine two homelessness grants into one for 2022 and stating longer-term funding decisions will be made in the 2021 Spending Review.
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HM Treasury