Temporary Accommodation
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he has taken to work with local authorities to increase emergency housing availability.
Answered by Alison McGovern
The government is committed to helping councils invest in good-quality, value-for-money temporary accommodation, reducing reliance on expensive Bed and Breakfast and nightly paid accommodation, and supporting local authorities to develop effective delivery models. This includes including through delivery of the £950 million fourth round of the Local Authority Housing Fund and the Emergency Accommodation Reduction Programme to tackle poor value and support more efficient use of existing stock.
As outlined in the National Plan to End Homelessness, we are continuing to explore further options to support councils to access good-quality temporary accommodation, including options for partnering with social impact and institutional investors to use private finance and support from the National Housing Bank.
The thematic value for money review on homelessness, for which the published Terms of Reference are available here will also consider how temporary accommodation costs and delivery models can better support value for money across the system.
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