§ Mrs. GoldingTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is her estimate of the cost of providing public housing or other publicly-funded residential care for people who are homeless in England; and if he will make a statement.
§ Sir George YoungIn 1992–93 40 per cent. of new tenancies in local authority and housing association stock were allocated to households whom local authorities accepted as homeless under part III of the Housing Act 1985. Over the three years 1992–93 to 1994–95 the Government are spending £5½ billion on providing an estimated 179,000 housing association homes to meet a range of housing needs.
562W
§ Mr. Jim CunninghamTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what figures he has for homelessness in 1992 and 1993; and what were the comparable figures at the most recent available date.
§ Sir George YoungThe number of households accepted as homeless by local authorities in England in 1993 was an estimated 134,190, a reduction of some 8,700-6.1 per cent.—on the corresponding figure in 1992 of 142,890 acceptances.
The latest available figures show a continuation of the downward trend with 131,790 acceptances in the year ending March 1994. This is the eighth successive quarter in which total acceptances in the preceding 12 months have fallen.
§ Mr. Jim CunninghamTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what level of resources his Department provides to housing associations for helping homeless people.
§ Sir George YoungMy Department provides funding through the Housing Corporation's approved development programme for housing associations to provide homes for homeless people and others in housing need. In 1994–95 the Housing Corporation's ADP budget is some £1.5 billion and the corporation estimates that this will enable housing associations to provide some 58,300 new lettings of which nearly 38,000—some 65 per cent—are intended by associations to be for homeless people. This would bring the total number of homes provided by housing associations between 1992–93 and 1994–95 to some 178,000. In addition the Department provides revenue support through the Housing Corporation for housing association schemes which provide accommodation for people with special needs, many of whom are single and homeless. In 1994–95 the corporation's revenue contributions are expected to be some £128 million.
Under the Government's six-year—1990–91 to 1995–96—rough sleepers initiative, funding of £182 million has been made available to provide emergency shelters, night shelters, hostels, properties leased from private sector landlords and at least 3,300 bedspaces in permanent move-on accommodation for people who would otherwise sleep rough in central London. The bulk of this funding has been made available to housing associations through the Housing Corporation.
§ Mr. Jim CunninghamTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what plans he has to meet housing associations and local authorities to co-ordinate a strategy for helping homeless people.
§ Sir George YoungMy right hon. Friend hopes to announce shortly the Government's conclusions following consideration of the responses to our consultation paper "Access to Local Authority and Housing Association Tenancies", which proposed a new approach to homelessness. We should then be happy to discuss our intentions with local authority and housing association representatives.
§ Mr. Jim CunninghamTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when he last met housing associations to discuss homelessness.
§ Sir George YoungMinisters and officials in the Department are in frequent contact with the National 563W Federation of Housing Associations, and with individual housing associations, about a range of topics, including homelessness. My officials met representatives of the National Federation of Housing Associations on 6 June to discuss the Government's proposals to reform the homelessness legislation.
§ Mr. Jim CunninghamTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what recent figures he has for the numbers of people(a) living in hostels, (b) living in hotels provided at the expense of local authorities and (c) living in housing association dwellings.
§ Sir George YoungThe latest available figures are for 31 March 1994 and these show that of the households for which local authorities in England had accepted responsibility to secure permanent accommodation, or who were awaiting the outcome of inquiries, some 10,670 households were living in hostels and 4,930 in bed-and-breakfast hotels.
The latest available information on housing association dwellings relates to 31 March 1993 when a total of 686,700 households were in occupation.