Homelessness

HC Deb 22 June 1988 vol 135 cc1122-4

14. Mr. Cohen

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what are the latest figures for homelessness in England and Wales.

17. Mr. Roy Hughes

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what action he proposes to take to reduce the level of homelessness.

Mr. Ridley

In the first quarter of 1988 local authorities in England secured accommodation for 31,070 households accepted as homeless under part III of the Housing Act 1985.

The primary responsibility for accommodating the homeless rests with local authorities. Our first concern is to encourage them to make the best use of their existing stock by getting the large number of empty council properties back into use to reduce the social and financial burden of bed-and-breakfast accommodation. To that end we have allocated over £74 million additional resources since last December, targeted on authorities with the greatest homelessness pressures. The measures in the current Housing Bill should also widen the choice and supply of accommodation for those with lower incomes, by providing a more flexible social rented sector.

I am not responsible for Wales.

Mr. Cohen

Is not the allocation that the Minister has announced a pathetic pittance when set against the extent of homelessness, which the Housing Bill will make worse? Does not that allocation come from the £141 million underspend of local authorities last year? What is the Minister doing with the rest of that underspend? Is he giving it to the rich to help them with their mansions, or to the Prime Minister to leave her property in Dulwich empty?

Mr. Ridley

I am surprised to hear that the hon. Gentleman thinks that £74 million is a pathetic pittance. I think that he has got his adjectives wrong. He may like to know that the London borough of Waltham Forest at the moment has 83 houses available for letting and 308 houses empty and being repaired, while the number of homeless households is only 235. The number of available houses is almost double the number of homeless households. That is the problem; it is not to do with more money.

Mr. Roy Hughes

I remind the Secretary of State that 1987 was the United Nations international year of shelter for the homeless. Does he realise that the Government's contribution was in inverse proportion to that effort to the extent that homelessness in this country has simply rocketed, not least in my constituency of Newport, East? Even at this late stage, will the Secretary of State give top priority to this great social evil, by releasing the moneys that are held after the sale of council houses?

Mr. Ridley

Yes, the hon. Gentleman is right. Last year was the international year of shelter for the homeless. However, figures relating to his own town might interest him. I understand that in his town of Newport 130 houses are available for letting but are empty, and that the number of households accepted as homeless is 68—so there is no problem.

Mr. Latham

Is my right hon. Friend aware that absolutely nothing is done for the homeless or for the Housing Bill, which he mentioned a moment ago, if the deplorable practice of gazumping continues? Will he please call in the builders' leaders forthwith and tell them that it must stop?

Mr. Ridley

All hon. Members dislike gazumping, wherever it takes place. However, no schemes have found widespread support as methods of bringing gazumping to an end.