Communities and Local Government written question – answered at on 10 September 2008.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what proportion of households presenting as homeless were accepted as such in (a) England, (b) each region and (c) each London local authority in each of the last five years.
holding answer
Information about English local housing authorities' actions under the homelessness legislation (part 7 of the Housing Act 1996) is collected quarterly at local authority level.
Under the legislation, authorities must secure suitable accommodation for applicants accepted as eligible for assistance, unintentionally homeless and in priority need (or take steps to secure that accommodation does not cease to be available if the applicant is likely to become homeless within 28 days). CLG's quarterly homelessness Statistical Release refers to these duties as "the main homelessness duties" and relevant applicants are recorded as "homeless acceptances".
Two tables have been placed in the Library. Table A shows the number of eligible applicants for whom a decision was taken, and the number and proportion where the applicant was found to be eligible for assistance, unintentionally homeless and in priority need, and therefore accepted as being owed a main homelessness duty, between 2003-04 and 2007-08, by local authority. Note that the decision figures exclude applications by households not eligible for assistance under the legislation.
Table B shows the same data for each Government office region and for England.
The following table contains extracts from these two tables and shows the proportion of applicants for whom a decision was taken where the outcome was that the applicant was accepted as being owed a main homelessness duty, between 2003-04 and 2007-08, by Government office region and London local authority:
Percentage | |||||
2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | 2007-08 | |
England | 45 | 45 | 44 | 46 | 48 |
Regions | |||||
North-east | 44 | 43 | 46 | 51 | 55 |
North-west | 42 | 44 | 42 | 45 | 45 |
Yorkshire and the Humber | 42 | 37 | 34 | 36 | 40 |
East midlands | 48 | 50 | 52 | 56 | 59 |
West midlands | 44 | 44 | 41 | 46 | 52 |
East of England | 49 | 51 | 49 | 50 | 53 |
London | 45 | 46 | 45 | 46 | 48 |
South-east | 48 | 50 | 51 | 52 | 50 |
South-west | 51 | 49 | 47 | 44 | 46 |
London local authority | |||||
Barking and Dagenham | 46 | 51 | 67 | (1)— | 49 |
Barnet | 19 | 16 | (1)— | 63 | 50 |
Bexley | 32 | 36 | 27 | 30 | 36 |
Brent | 36 | 31 | 41 | 46 | 48 |
Bromley | 45 | (1)— | 56 | 60 | 72 |
Camden | 64 | 63 | 71 | 64 | 62 |
City of London | 48 | 70 | 58 | 60 | 50 |
Croydon | 27 | 28 | 25 | 32 | 24 |
Ealing | 42 | 36 | 32 | 26 | 27 |
Enfield | 62 | (1)— | 64 | 62 | 63 |
Greenwich | 40 | 40 | 37 | 46 | 52 |
Hackney | (1)— | 63 | (1)— | 48 | 49 |
Hammersmith and Fulham | 51 | 53 | 56 | 33 | 60 |
Haringey | (1)— | 72 | 72 | 64 | 89 |
Harrow | 40 | 18 | 20 | 29 | 38 |
Havering | 61 | 43 | (1)— | 53 | 43 |
Hillingdon | 52 | 65 | 57 | 57 | 59 |
Hounslow | 61 | 68 | 64 | 68 | 63 |
Islington | (1)— | 47 | (1)— | 41 | 42 |
Kensington and Chelsea | 48 | 48 | 27 | (1)— | 24 |
Kingston upon Thames | 33 | (1)— | (1)— | 24 | 24 |
Lambeth | 57 | 63 | 59 | 54 | 70 |
Lewisham | 54 | 58 | 55 | 58 | 82 |
Merton | 24 | 41 | 63 | 70 | 69 |
Newham | 72 | (1)— | 55 | 46 | 44 |
Redbridge | 77 | (1)— | 69 | 52 | 66 |
Richmond upon Thames | 41 | 58 | 57 | 46 | 48 |
Southwark | 71 | 65 | 53 | 47 | 49 |
Sutton | 30 | 30 | 37 | 40 | 40 |
Tower Hamlets | 70 | 63 | 55 | 66 | (1)— |
Waltham Forest | 31 | 29 | 31 | 32 | 24 |
Wandsworth | 46 | 46 | 44 | 45 | 38 |
Westminster | 29 | 34 | 49 | 58 | (1)— |
(1) Data not reported Source: CLG P1E data |
Regional and local authority level data on the outcomes of all decisions are published quarterly in the Supplementary Tables which accompany the quarterly statistical release on Statutory Homelessness. These are published on our website and placed in the Library. The latest release was published on
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