Government urged to back MP’s homelessness campaign with funding

Proposals to reduce homelessness will “simply be words on a piece of paper” if the Government fails to offer enough cash to councils, Labour has said.

MPs are expected to approve Conservative Bob Blackman’s Homelessness Reduction Bill, which requires local authorities to do more to prevent people from becoming homeless in the first place.

But shadow housing minister Andy Slaughter warned the Government’s pledge to give £48 million in 2017/18 and 2018/19 to meet costs associated with the law change falls well below some estimates.

He told MPs London Councils believes costs in the first year the reforms are implemented will be in the region of £160 million.

Mr Slaughter said the Government has vowed to “fully fund additional costs” for councils linked to the Bill, with ministers believing there will be no costs after this period.

Labour want the Bill changed to require the Government to review funding for the proposals within 12 to 24 months of them becoming law.

Mr Blackman’s Bill requires local authorities to provide new homelessness services to all those affected – not just those who are protected under existing legislation.

It would also place a duty on councils to help eligible people at risk of homelessness to secure accommodation 56 days before they are threatened with homelessness, replacing the existing 28-day requirement.

Speaking during the Bill’s report stage, Mr Slaughter said of the estimates and Government funding pledge: “There’s a massive disparity in figures there.

“Because we’re in new territory with this Bill, nobody really knows what the full cost is going to be.

“So the solution alighted upon was let’s have a review at an early stage so we can see both whether the amounts that have been allocated to the Bill in those two years are sufficient and, perhaps as or more controversially, whether the Government’s assertion that after two years there’ll be no need for additional funding because the Bill will be self-financing, whether that will prove to be true or not – because there’s huge scepticism.”

Mr Slaughter went on: “The scepticism about the financing of this Bill is shared not just by local government but by the charities who have supported this Bill.

“The crucial importance in this is not just that it is only fair and reasonable and right that local government is properly funded… but that if it doesn’t work, then the Bill isn’t going to work, and it’ll simply be words on a piece of paper and we will not see that sea change in addressing homelessness.

“In particular, extending duties of homelessness – both prevention and cure – to those in priority need to everybody – to single homeless people and to everybody who presents them as homeless.

“If we’re serious about the Bill, that’s what we all want to see.”

Mr Blackman opposed Labour’s call for a resource review as he said the Communities and Local Government Select Committee would be able to ensure ministers have “their feet kept to the fire” to deliver what is needed.

He added: “The Government has already given a very firm commitment to reviewing the Bill at an appropriate point after implementation.”

Meanwhile, Labour former frontbencher Andy Burnham welcomed the Bill but said it did not go anywhere near far enough to tackle the problem.

He said: “I support the Bill but as good as it goes we will be kidding ourselves today if we all leave this House, pat ourselves on the back and believe that we have done everything that this House could do to tackle what is an unfolding emergency before our eyes.”

Mr Burnham said the proposed resource review would “reveal that the council funding that the Government has allocated is inadequate”.

He said the Bill “isn’t going to change” the lives of the homeless “any time soon”.

He said: “It is not acceptable for this House to be debating homelessness and do it all in a cosy way without facing the reality and that is the reality.

“Rough sleeping is rising at an alarming rate.”

He added: “This Bill is a step in the right direction but that, I’m afraid, is all that it is.”

Communities Minister Marcus Jones said the Government intended to review the implementation of the Bill.

He said: “I will review the implementation of the Bill, including the resourcing of it, and how it is working in practice, concluding no later than two years after commencement of the substantive clauses of the Bill.

“I will also carry out in the same time frame a post-implementation review of the new burdens to review the robustness of our assessment of the estimated cost to local authorities and the underlying assumptions.”

The reassurances given by Mr Jones prompted Mr Slaughter to withdraw Labour’s call for a review of resources.

Mr Blackman (Harrow East), speaking during the Bill’s third reading, said he hopes the proposed reforms progress through the Lords and therefore “end homelessness once and for all”.

He told MPs: “I have said from the word go that one rough sleeper on our streets I regard as a national disgrace.

“The fact we have so many is something we must put an end to.

“Equally, I’ve said from the word go we’re not in the position whereby this Bill – which hopefully will become an Act – will deliver any new housing units and that is part and parcel of a new strategy that I look forward to the Government pursuing.

“What it does do is change the law and the requirements on local authorities to ensure that they deliver help and advice to vulnerable people that need that at crisis points in their lives.”

Mr Blackman said councils will also face a “massive culture change” as a result of the proposed legislation, adding: “I passionately believe that people enter public service to help people, not to deny them service, and… for 40 years we’ve routinely at local authority level denied vulnerable people service, help and advice.

“That has to come to an end. That will be a big shock for most local housing authorities when the Bill becomes law and the various different regulations are laid.

“But the key point here is we are aiming to ensure people that face the prospect of having nowhere to live, we move on from the approach where homelessness is always a crisis to one where local government has a duty and ability to work with people as early as possible so they never get to a position of being homeless.”

For Labour, Mr Slaughter welcomed the Bill as he called for the Government to follow the Opposition in committing to end rough sleeping during a single five-year Parliament.

He said: “We saw those shocking figures earlier this week – 4,134 people sleeping rough in England, a 16% increase (on the previous year) and a 134% increase over 2010.

“And I couldn’t agree more with (Mr Blackman) when he said one person in that situation is one person too many and 4,134 is a national disgrace.

“But it is a manageable figure.”

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