§ Mr. SimpsonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many people applying to councils in each standard region were(a) accepted and (b) not accepted as officially homeless under the provisions of the Housing Act 1985 in each of the last three years.
§ Mr BaldryFull information for regions is available only from April 1991. Estimates for the first complete year are as follows:
Households, 1991–92 Region Accepted as homeless Not accepted as homeless North 9,010 10,460 Yorkshire and Humberside 12,930 21,020 East Midlands 10,530 10,920 East Anglia 3,610 3,670 South East 58,090 61,740 South West 9,010 10,100 West Midlands 18,550 19,790 North West 23,100 20,170 England 144,830 157,870 Those households counted as not accepted as homeless represent the sum of those whose applications resulted in a section 64 decision being issued during the year and who were found not to be homeless, or in priority need but intentionally homeless, or not to be in a priority need category and were not accepted for rehousing.
In the quarter ended September 1992, local authorities accepted 35,520 households and 43,060 decisions of non-acceptance were issued.
Regional estimates of acceptances for earlier years are published but these do not take account of the change in definition from April 1991 when intentionally homeless 16W people were no longer counted as accepted. Consistent information on non-acceptances is not available for earlier years.
Figures for acceptances (including intentionally homeless provided only with temporary accommodation) for each quarter appear in table 1 of "Local authorities' action under the homelessness provisions of the 1985 Housing Act: England, Results for … Quarter 19 … Supplementary Tables" and from the third quarter of 1990 in table 1 of "Households found accommodation under the homelessness provisions of the 1985 Housing Act: England, Statistics for the … Quarter 19 …" Copies of all these publications are available in the Library.