Homelessness (Hansard, 13 June 1991)

§ The Minister of State, Department of the Environment (Baroness Blatch)
My Lords, our initiative to help people sleeping rough in central London took full account of the findings of the survey quoted in this report.

§ Loud Stallard
My Lords, I am grateful to the Minister for that constructive Answer. Will she recom mend that her right honourable friend the Secretary of State takes the proposal on board and meets directly and personally with members of the Salvation Army in order to ascertain whether it can be dealt with on a broader basis?

§ Baroness Blatch
My Lords, my honourable friend the Minister for Housing has taken on board all the messages of the survey. The data on which the survey was based are somewhat out of date; it was taken in 1988–89. Already there has been a dramatic decrease in the number of people sleeping rough. In London, for example. in January this year, there were 1,000 people sleeping rough; today, there are only 500. That is a remarkable success rate for my honourable friend.

§ Lord Stallard
My Lords, I do not believe that the Minister and I are speaking about the same report. The report that I mentioned was published only today. To say that the Minister for Housing has already taken its proposals into account appears a little far fetched. Is the Minister aware that the report publis led today makes a constructive proposal that could be discussed with the Salvation Army?

§ Baroness Blatch
My Lords, it is well known that the data contained within the report and upon which it is based date from 1988 and were updated in 1989. A main theme of the report is that we should not merely be picking people off the streets and housing them temporarily but that there should be follow-through accommodation. The Government have such an initiative which falls entirely within the recommendations of the report. So far that initiative has been shown to be remarkably successful.

§ Baroness Faithfull
My Lords, is my noble friend aware that a number of 16 to 18 year-olds who are sleeping rough have jobs? They need low-cost rented accommodation. Will she ask her honourable friend the Minister for Housing, whose forward-looking policies we much admire and respect, whether special concern can be shown for them?

Baroness Match
My Lords, my noble friend is entirely right. A large proportion of the young people living ,in squats and sleeping rough in London have jobs. For that reason my honourable friend the Minister for Housing is addressing the problem. To that end we have asked the University of York to carry out a precise survey in order to update our figures and to underwrite what we are doing in order that we can do even more for young single homeless people.

§ Lord Molloy
My Lords, has the Minister seen the report which shows the relationship between unemployment and homelessness and between homelessness and poverty? Together those three issues form one of the biggest drains on the National Health Service. Would it not be far better to try to tackle those terrible problems and so reduce the strain on the National Health Service?

§ Baroness Blatch
My Lords, the noble Lord makes an important point. I hope that nothing that I have said has detracted from the misery of homelessness. However, it is over simplistic to relate the issue to unemployment. There are many contributory factors, not the least of which is the breakdown of family life. Many young people take the decision to leave home without properly thinking about where they will end up and how they will find somewhere to live. Some resources have been made available to help to provide advice to young people in order to ensure that they think carefully before leaving the family home only to end up on the streets of our cities.

§ Lord Elton
My Lords, does my noble friend agree that legislators and civil servants tend to fall into the trap of thinking that everyone goes through the same experience as they themselves; namely, the move from living at home to living away from home while in employment via the comfortable intermediary stage of university digs and halls of residence? Is there not a case for having in this country what I believe exist in France; that is, foyers—halls of residence for young people who are not students but who are in their first job? They are convenient, supervised and reasonably cheap.

§ Baroness Blatch
My Lords, my noble friend makes some interesting points. I understand that my honourable friend in another place has gone a long way down that road by making supervised hostel accommodation available to young people. However, it must be said that if it is made easy for young people to leave home and live in our cities and they are persuaded to do so because there is provision for them, then it is absolutely essential that the resources available go to the most needy. I am confident that my honourable friend is doing that.

§ Lord Dean of Beswick
My Lords, is the Minister aware that we welcome the initiatives which have been taken since Sir George Young returned to the housing department. Those initiatives are to be acclaimed. However, the problem is so gigantic that the initiatives are minimal. The point made by my noble friend Lord Stallard is that the report can be acted upon or taken into consideration in formulating a policy which may eliminate, or go a long way towards eliminating, the situation which exists, certainly in London at present. We are asking the Minister to have discussions with the Salvation Army instead of doing what has been done in the past with reports such as Faith in the City which have been thrown in the dustbin.

§ Baroness Blatch
My Lords, there is considerable scope for doing more—improved management of housing authorities; bringing empty properties back into existence; and the continuation of successful initiatives. My honourable friend is consulting all the relevant agencies, and we shall continue to do just that.