§ Mr. HepburnTo ask the Deputy Prime Minister what funding has been allocated to reduce the number of homeless people in the UK since 1997. [128713]
§ Yvette CooperA variety of investment streams contribute to tackling and resolving homelessness but these have wider housing and social objectives too, and it is not possible to identify specific homelessness elements within all of them.
In March 2002, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister published "More than a Roof", a report into tackling homelessness, which identified the problems and the steps that were needed in order to tackle homelessness in England. The Homelessness Directorate was established in the previous Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions (DTLR) in March 2002 and brought together the Rough Sleepers Unit, the Bed and Breakfast Unit and a new team to ensure effective implementation of new homelessness legislation and to assist local authorities (and voluntary agencies working with them) in the development of their strategies to tackle homelessness.
The Homelessness Directorate invested £114.5 million in 2002–03 and has a £260 million budget over 2003–04 to 2005–06.
Local authorities also receive funding for their homelessness responsibilities through the local government finance settlement. The funding is paid as general grant and it is for local authorities to decide on their spending priorities taking into account their statutory responsibilities and the wishes of their electorate.
Between 1997–98 and 2001–02, the following net current expenditure on homelessness incurred within the General Fund Revenue Account:
£ million 1997–98 123 1998–99 150 1999–2000 171 2000–01 203 2001–02 186 Much of this expenditure is on the provision of temporary accommodation for homeless households for which authorities claim housing benefit subsidy In relation to general capital investment for housing, the 535W total budget for housing capital investment in 1997–98 was £1.7 billion and £4.3 billion for 2003–04. These budgets provide new affordable housing and improvements to existing housing, both of which can help to prevent and resolve homelessness.
Future funding will complement increases in investment in affordable housing and the funding available from 1 April 2003 for services to help homeless people under the Supporting People programme. Provision for support relating to homelessness within the Supporting People budget totalled over £353 million this year—a fifth of the £1.8 billion grant for the 2003–04 programme. This expenditure would have previously come from a variety of programmes including housing benefit and Supported Housing Management Grant, but was not identified separately for homeless client groups within these programmes.