§ Mr. GeorgeTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make an assessment of the extent of homelessness in Walsall; and how many(a) families and (b) single people will benefit from the additional funding announced in the autumn statement.
§ Mr. BaldryAn assessment is made on the basis of the local authority's own estimates contained in its housing strategy statement and statistical returns, together with the homelessness indicator in the housing general needs index.
This information was used to inform our decisions on the housing investment programme allocations to local authorities which were announced on 17 December 1992.
The autumn statement made considerable additional resources available to support capital programmes which will directly benefit families and single people in housing need:
- An increase in the Housing Corporation spending to £2.3 billion this year, to enable the immediate purchase of about 17,000 new, empty or repossessed homes for those in housing need (against the original autumn statement target of 16,000).
- Provide sufficient funds to exceed the target of 153,000 new housing association homes in the three years 1992–93 to 1994–95. This is now expected to be 170,000.
- The release of local authority capital receipts, which are expected to add around £l billion to housing spending between now and 1995–96.
- And the creation of a new housing partnership fund where £30 million will be available nationally in the form of supplementary credit approvals to be bid for worthwhile housing investment projects.