HC Deb 08 November 1978 vol 957 cc950-3
14. Mr. McCrindle

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he is satisfied with the operation of the Housing (Homeless Persons) Act 1977.

Mr. Freeson

The Act is generally working well. The statistics so far available have shown an increase in the number of homeless people being helped by housing authorities. We shall shortly review the operation of the Act with the local authority associations.

Mr. McCrindle

Is it not a fact that many local authorities are discharging their responsibility under the Act by providing bed and breakfast accommodation because of the sheer shortage of permanent accommodation within their areas? Does the Minister agree that this might be said to be a case of Parliament having willed the end without having willed the means? Does he contemplate the introduction of further legislation or, more particularly, additional funds to assist the local authorities?

Mr. Freeson

I am concerned about the growth once more of the practice referred to by the hon. Gentleman. I do not say that in criticism of the local authorities. I am concerned about the fact that in the handling of their responsibilities there has been a resurgence of the use of bed and breakfast, which had previously been declining in favour of more permanent solutions to the problems of the people concerned. But we think it may be a temporary factor. It is something that we shall have to watch closely in consultation with the local authorities when we review the operation of the Act.

I do not accept the hon. Gentleman's point on the question of resources. Indeed, as my right hon. Friend stated earlier, our fear is that the resources that we have been making available to local authorities not only for new buildings but for the acquisition and modernisation of old houses, the provision of hostel accommodation and so on—all provided for under the capital allocations—will not fully be taken up. We urge local authorities which are under pressures such as those to which the hon. Gentleman refers to make the best use of the allocations at their disposal to make sure that more accommodation under their ownership is available to help such people.

Mr. Arthur Lewis

Is not my right hon. Friend aware that most of these people are coming into areas which are already stress areas? It is now becoming not impossible but certainly very difficult for some local authorities to carry out their duties even if they wanted to. When he examines this matter will my right hon. Friend have words with some of the boroughs, particularly in the East End of London and, I dare say, in areas such as Brent? He must know that they, too, have worries about the situation.

Mr. Freeson

Certainly any implications for administrative work that have come in the wake of the Act will have to be taken on board in our discussions with local authorities, and I do not doubt that if there are such problems the individual local authorities will inform their associations or us direct.

Mr. Farr

Is the Minister aware that in many parts of the country local authorities are having great difficulty in properly and fairly managing their housing accommodation lists because of the priority requirements imposed by this Act? Is he further aware that this is desperately unfair to families which may have been on a council's housing list for many years? Will he please look into this matter and do something about it?

Mr. Freeson

That was one of the matters which was the subject of serious consideration and discussion for a long time, well before the Bill was introduced and became law. It has always been a problem of deciding the balance of priorities at local authority level. I well recall that this was a sensitive matter when I was a member of my local authority in a stress area. It is not a situation that has been created by the Act; what was a common problem before has been reinforced in law, so to speak. But, where it can be shown that the operation of the Act is damaging the general application of the responsibilities of a local authority, I shall be glad to receive specific information when we review the operation of the Act.

Miss Joan Lestor

Bearing in mind the information that I have previously sent my right hon. Friend in relation to the non-operation of the Housing (Homeless Persons) Act by the Slough Conservative council, may I ask whether he agrees that its activities would fail to increase the number of people being housed under the Act? When he reviews the operation of the Act, will he pay particular attention to Slough corporation, which has already been censured by the Local Government Ombudsman for its behaviour in this respect?

Mr. Freeson

It will be difficult to concentrate too heavily on a range of several hundred individual local authorities, but where causes célèbres arise in the operation of the Act or there is failure to operate the Act in particular areas I shall have to take the experience aboard when we review the operation of the Act.

Mr. Rossi

When the Minister carries out his review of the Act, will he bear in mind an article which appeared in the Calgary Herald of 2nd September 1978 giving advice to young Canadians on how to obtain a free holiday in the United Kingdom? The advice given is that one should buy a single ticket to Heathrow, preferably with a child in tow. One then hires a taxi for five dollars and asks to go to the local housing authority, where the housing manager will be obliged to house one under the Homeless Persons Act.

The article also alleges that about 350 Americans took advantage of the scheme this summer.

I do not know the truth of that report, but we saw an example only yesterday in the case of a Nairobi family who came here for a holiday, already having a home in Nairobi. Does the Minister agree that if that kind of attitude is gaining currency abroad it will make the implementation of the Act by our local authorities impossible when they are dealing with genuine cases of homelessness amongst our own people?

Mr. Freeson

I could give a very short reply to that contemptible intervention. The hon. Gentleman does not do himself, his party or housing policy any good by that kind of smear politics. I put the question that he has put to me in the same category as I put the personal conduct of at least one notable person who hit the headlines yesterday. I make no judgments about the individual handling of cases by officials in their housing departments—I refer, among other things, to the case that was publicised yesterday—but I have the utmost contempt and deepest repugnance for the way a particular Conservative councillor acted in the same spirit as the hon. Gentleman has just spoken.