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MPs call for £100m annual fund to keep rough sleepers off the streets after pandemic
Cross-party MPs have called for a dedicated annual fund of £100m to keep rough sleepers off the streets after the coronavirus pandemic.
In a report out today, the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee said that the government has a “golden opportunity” to ensure people do not return to the streets, having offered accommodation to 90% of rough sleepers during the pandemic.
To prevent people from returning to sleeping rough, the MPs suggested implementing a £100m annual funding stream for local authorities to ensure people are accommodated safely and securely.
The report said government will need to ensure there is an adequate supply of immediately available supported housing. This could be achieved by targeted grant funding for councils and housing associations to acquire properties that are close to completion and are no longer in demand.
MPs also called on the government to remove restrictions on Right to Buy receipts so councils can use 100% of sales to fund these acquisitions and better replace lost housing stock.
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The committee said there is a “looming crisis” in the private rented sector as a result of the current ban on evictions ending in June.
The government has said it is working to ensure that a “pre-action protocol” is in place for when the ban is lifted but critics have said this measure is nothing more than “words on a page”.
To prevent a cliff-edge of evictions, MPs argued that the government should consider amending the Housing Act to ensure that landlords have engaged in the pre-action protocol before any eviction can be considered.
“Unless the government amends existing housing legislation, its plans to introduce a pre-action protocol to the private rented sector will be toothless and will fail to prevent a cliff-edge of evictions once the moratorium on possession cases ends,” the report said.
Committee chair Clive Betts 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.
“In our interim report we have set out what the government will need to do immediately in terms of funding, policy and legislation. There can be no question that we have to ensure no one is forced to live on the streets. We now expect the government to put this achievable goal into long-term reality.”
A Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) spokesperson said that the government has ensured 90% of rough sleepers known to councils at the start of the pandemic have been offered accommodation and that it has introduced “significant measures” to protect tenants from eviction.
They added: “We’ve been clear councils must continue to provide safe accommodation – backed by an unprecedented £3.2bn package of government support.
“Our new rough sleeping taskforce – spearheaded by Dame Louise Casey – has one overriding objective: to ensure that as many people as possible who have been brought in off the streets in this pandemic do not return to the streets. It will work closely with councils and charities to give the long-term support they need to rebuild their lives and move into stable, long-term accommodation.”
Update: at 9.29am on 22.5.20
The story was updated to include a response from MHCLG
