Government must commit £100m annually to keep homeless people off streets, MPs’ report finds

News22 May 2020Sarah Williams

The government must dedicate at least £100m a year in long-term housing support to prevent the 90 per cent of rough sleepers housed in temporary accommodation during the COVID-19 lockdown from returning to the streets, a new report from MPs has set out.

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The publication from the Housing, Communities and Local Government (HCLG) Committee also warns of a “cliff-edge of evictions” after the moratorium on evictions ends, as private sector renters unable to pay their rent face building up debt or losing their homes.

The report suggests that recent efforts, including the placement of rough sleepers in temporary accommodation during the crisis, present a unique opportunity to “eradicate rough sleeping in England once and for all”. It calls on government to develop a housing-based exit strategy and the dedicated funding stream required to support it.

Many homeless people have been housed in hotels and other temporary settings, supported by a £3.2m fund from government to reimburse local authorities for emergency accommodation and support. However the government’s COVID-19 recovery strategy suggests that hotels may begin to reopen from July. And, the report states, “there is not yet an exit plan from what is a temporary measure”.

On 2 May, the government appointed Dame Louise Casey to lead a ‘Rough Sleeping Taskforce’, for which it has said the key goal will be ensuring that “as few people as possible return to the streets”.

The report urges government to fund not only the accommodation required but the additional support services to tackle a range of issues rough sleepers may face, and it cites the ongoing ‘Housing First’ pilots as an “ideal model for such support”.

Based on work conducted by homelessness charity Crisis, the committee estimates that a housing-led solution with appropriate wraparound support would initially cost a minimum of £100m a year.

The proposals come after the G15 group of London’s largest housing associations (HAs) called for government support for a new generation of “homes for heroes” for those labelled as key workers during the crisis. That report, on 7 May, suggested government should use match funding from HAs to purchase completed or near-completed market sale properties for conversion into affordable tenures.

It also follows a suggestion by the government that local authorities may allow small and medium-sized builders to defer Section 106 contributions as the housing market recovers.

Protecting tenants

Alongside its focus on rough sleepers, the HCLG Committee is calling for the government to provide greater security to tenants during the ongoing health crisis.

This could include “amending the Housing Act to enable judges to use discretionary powers where a tenant is in rent arrears due to COVID-19 for the next 12 months, that compels tenant and landlord to work together to find a solution and removes the option of eviction as the first resort”.

The report states that while the measures to extend eviction periods during the crisis were welcome, these do not prevent tenants being evicted. It added that from 25 June, or later if the initial period is extended, there will be a “cliff-edge when eviction proceedings can begin again”.

In addition, it calls for Local Housing Allowance (LHA) to be set at a level that reflects real market rents, and for the government to guarantee that the rate is maintained at the 30th percentile in the long term.

The government announced on 20 March that LHA would rise to cover the lowest percentile of market rents as part of a package of measures intended to protect renters during the pandemic.

Commenting on the report’s publication, Clive Betts, chair of the HCLG Committee, said: “We must praise the efforts of all those who have done so much to help take people of the streets during the current health emergency, but what happens next is crucial.

“It is simply not good enough for anyone to leave temporary accommodation and end up back on the streets. This isn’t just about protecting vulnerable people from COVID-19. It is not safe to live on the streets in any circumstances and it is not acceptable to allow it to return once the health crisis abates."

He added: “Firstly, the government needs to fund a comprehensive housing-led exit strategy for those currently being housed in short-term accommodation during the COVID-19 crisis, which we estimate will cost around £100m a year. Secondly, the government needs to amend legislation to ensure those in the private rented sector who have been caught up in the economic fall-out of the pandemic are not evicted when the freeze on eviction proceedings ends.”