§ Mr. SandersTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will publish the amounts allocated to homelessness over the past 10 years and the amounts allocated to rough sleeping over the past 10 years. [112810]
§ Mr. MullinSince 1990 my Department has allocated the following amounts to tackle single homelessness and rough sleeping.
1990–93
- £12.1 million (single homelessness)
- £96 million (rough sleeping)
1993–96
- £19 million (single homelessness)
- £86 million (rough sleeping)
1996–99
- £23.8 million (single homelessness)
- £73 million (rough sleeping)
1999–2002
- £196 million (Rough Sleepers Unit).
The Rough Sleepers Unit was established in my Department in April 1999. This Unit has an integrated budget combining the separate single homelessness and rough sleeping programme budgets as well as budgets previously administered by other Departments.
Government implemented a special homelessness initiative in the early 1990s to tackle homelessness pressures in London and the South-East which was allocated partly to local authorities and partly to housing associations (through the Housing Corporation). The local authority allocations were £112 million in 1990–91 and £126.7 million in 1991–92.
Local housing authorities have statutory obligations to assist homeless persons under part VII of the Housing Act 1996 (and formerly under part III of the Housing Act 1985). This includes unintentionally homeless households with dependant children, and those who are vulnerable, totalling almost one million households between 1991–99. Funding for local authorities' activities under these provisions is provided as part of the annual local government finance settlement and is unhypothecated.