Homelessness

HC Deb 17 December 1992 vol 216 cc496-7W

Mr. Cox

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many emergency cold weather hostels there are in the Greater London area; and if he will list their locations.

Mr. Baldry

To provide immediate shelter for people who would otherwise sleep rough over the winter, my Department is funding 400 bedspaces in nine temporary shelters in central London. The shelters will be open between 1 December 1992 and 31 March 1993. In addition, we are planning to provide up to 300 further places across London, which can be opened at short notice in the event of exceptionally severe weather. The nine winter shelters being funded by my Department are:

Managing agency	Address
London borough of Camden	25 Parker street, WC2
London borough of Lambeth	Cynthia Moseley centre, Oval way, SE11
Crisis	147 Tooley street, SE1
Single Homeless Project	1 John street, WC1
St. Mungo's	10–11 Bulstrode place, W1
Centrepoint	Soho Women's hospital, Soho square, WC2
Salvation Army	1 St. Ann's street, SW1
Salvation Army	23–27 Tudor street, EC4
English Churches Housing Group	156 St. John street, EC1

Mr. Cox

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what have been the extra resources given by his Department for homeless people living outside the Greater London area between 1 January and 1 December; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Baldry

In the current financial year the Department is paying £6.1 million in grants under section 73 of the Housing Act 1985 to nearly 150 voluntary organisations throughout England which provide direct practical help to people who are homeless or at risk of becoming so.

Sir David Mitchell

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is his estimate of the numbers sleeping rough in London at the most recent convenient date and the number of empty hostel places as at the same date.

Mr. Baldry

The 1991 census found that on the night of 21 and 22 April, there were 1,275 people sleeping rough in London. A count by voluntary sector organisations in central London on 5 November 1992 found around 420 people sleeping rough—less than half the number who were estimated to have been sleeping on the streets of central London before my Department's rough sleepers initiative began in 1990–91. Information about the number of empty hostel places available at any one time is not held centrally.

Mr. Alfred Morris

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many homeless households are currently living in temporary accommodation in England.

Mr. Baldry

The latest available estimate for the number of homeless households living in temporary accommodation in England relates to 30 September and appears in table 4(d) of "Households found accommodation under the homelessness provisions of the 1985 Housing Act: England: Statistics for the third quarter 1992", a copy of which is in the Library.

Mr. Hendry

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what assistance his Department is providing to schemes linking provision of accommodation for homeless young people to training.

Mr. Baldry

I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave him on Tuesday 15 December,Official Report, columns 94–95.

Mrs. Golding

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what evidence he has that homeless families place themselves in bed-and-breakfast or temporary accommodation; and if he will provide an estimate of the total number of self-placed families living in such accommodation in each local authority area.

Mr. Baldry

The Department has no information about this.

Mr. Llew Smith

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make extra resources available to assist the homeless to have clean and dry accommodation over the Christmas period.

Mr. Baldry

In addition to the 2,550 places in various types of accommodation so far provided in central London under the rough sleepers initiative, we are providing a further 400 bed spaces in temporary shelters this winter. The shelters will be open in central London from 1 December 1992 to 31 March 1993. We are also planning to provide up to 300 further places across London, that can be opened at short notice in the event of particularly severe weather.

Nationally, the Government are providing over £6 million in grants this year to voluntary organisations throughout England which give direct practical help to homeless people. The primary responsibility for help to people sleeping rough in severe weather rests with local authorities. The local authority associations have accepted this responsibility through their support for the winter watch guidelines published by Crisis and Shelter.