Department for Communities and Local Government written question – answered at on 12 December 2017.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the effect on single homeless people in short-term accommodation of his Department's proposals for the reform of supported housing.
From April 2018 we are implementing the Homelessness Reduction Act, the biggest change to homelessness legislation in decades which will require local authorities to provide early help and support to people, including single people to prevent them from becoming homeless in the first place.
Short-term supported accommodation needed in crisis or transition, such as homeless hostels or refuges, will now be funded and commissioned directly by the local authority, through a ring-fenced grant from central government.
The model will help more people to sustain or get in to work. The short-term accommodation grant will remove rental costs for the tenants at a particularly vulnerable point in their lives, allowing them to seek work safe in the knowledge that their housing costs will be met. It will also help people who can, to move-on with greater choice about where they go without carrying a legacy of rent arrears and debt.
It will also give local areas a bigger role in commissioning supported accommodation for vulnerable people in their area. Councils have a strong interest in sustainable short-term accommodation which meets local need and will need to demonstrate how they will meet that through strategic plans and needs assessments.
The arrangements described apply to England only, equivalent funding will be devolved to the Scottish Government, and the specific arrangements will be for the Scottish Government to decide.
Yes3 people think so
No2 people think not
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