§ Mr. O'HaraTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will publish a table showing the number of homeless families living in bed-and-breakfast accommodation in England at the end of June, in each of the years 1985 to 1991, inclusive.
§ Mr. YeoEstimates of the number of households who were being dealt with under the homelessness provisions of the 1985 Housing Act and temporarily placed in bed and breakfast accommodation are in the table.
339W
Households at 1 June 1985 4,590 1986 6,950 1987 10,920 1988 11,270 1989 11,720 1990 12,170 1991 13,330
§ Mr. O'HaraTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) what further steps he is considering to help statutorily homeless familes; and if he will make a statement;
(2) what assessment he has made of the effectiveness to date of his Department's homeless initiative to reduce the need for local authorities to use bed-and-breakfast hotels as temporary accommodation for homeless families;
(3) how many of the additional units of accommodation to be provided under his Department's homelessness initiative will be local authority empty dwellings refurbished for letting to homeless families.
§ Mr. YeoA total of £300 million has been made available to local authorities and housing associations in London and the south east in 1990–91 and 1991–92 to provide accommodation for homeless families. We expect these funds to produce some 16,000 homes if local authorities and housing associations achieve the outputs which they have told us they will. My Department considers that the outputs projected represent good value for money for the resources committed to the initiative.
The extent to which the accommodation provided reduces the use of bed and breakfast by local authorities depends on a number of factors, including the level of homelessness acceptances and local authority management decisions. A condition of the allocation of resources under this initiative is that the properties provided should be used for homeless families.
According to information reported by local authorities for 1990–91 and estimates for 1991–92, over 6,800 of the 16,000 homes made available through this initiative will be refurbished local authority voids.
We have consulted the local authority associations, through the Housing Consultative Council, on a proposal that in the future allocation of capital resources for housing, the weightings given to homelessness and temporary accommodation should be significantly increased. Decisions will be announced soon.