HC Deb 09 December 1999 vol 340 cc600-2W
Mr. White

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions for each district and unitary authority in (i) the South East Region and (ii) the Eastern Region, how many people were(a) registered homeless and (b) on the local authority waiting list for the last and current financial years. [101826]

Mr. Mullin

Homeless households accepted by local authorities are those which, after investigation, were found to be eligible for assistance, unintentionally homeless and in priority need under part VII of the Housing Act 1996. The latest available information is given in the table, covering 1998–99 and the first quarter of 1999–2000 for homeless households.

Homeless households accepted and in priority need
1998–99 1999–20001 Number of households on the housing register at 1 April 1999
South East Region
Adur 294 79 1,162
Arun 192 58 689
Ashford 89 20 2,201
Aylesbury Vale 219 65 841
Basingstoke and Deane 146 2n/a 4,245
Bracknell Forest 73 21 1,308
Brighton and Hove 868 234 3,610
Canterbury 214 57 1,920
Cherwell 138 50 2,422
Chichester 88 24 2,148
Chiltern 124 34 667
Crawley 191 51 465
Dartford 86 26 1,575
Dover 107 31 2,231
East Hampshire 116 26 1,828
Eastbourne 466 99 1,753
Eastleigh 128 26 1,200
Elmbridge 188 35 1,976
Epsom and Ewell 72 14 537
Fareham 120 21 929
Gosport 254 61 1,167
Gravesham 84 21 1,847
Guildford 118 38 1,603
Hart 58 36 588
Hastings 140 30 1,490
Havant 324 71 2,714
Horsham 221 60 710
Isle of Wight 270 69 1,122
Lewes 189 42 818
Maidstone 114 39 959
Mid Sussex 205 31 1,418
Milton Keynes 537 185 2,835
Mole Valley 83 21 1,177
New Forest 293 66 1,383
Oxford 382 2n/a 3,099
Portsmouth 670 134 4,759
Reading 464 123 3,343
Reigate and Banstead 156 28 1,155
Rother 52 10 1,176
Runnymede 58 23 694
Rushmoor 188 2n/a 2,221
Sevenoaks 201 42 1,444

Homeless households accepted and in priority need
1998–99 1999–20001 Number of households on the housing register at 1 April 1999
Shepway 128 24 2,595
Slough 213 0 1,739
South Bucks 34 6 1,064
South Oxfordshire 140 43 1,488
Southampton 663 159 3,699
Spelthorne 59 19 2,284
Surrey Heath 111 31 436
Swale 55 22 1,815
Tandridge 97 26 1,077
Test Valley 125 30 1,723
Thanet 42 13 1,528
The Medway Towns 113 38 3,708
Tonbridge and Mailing 150 45 658
Tunbridge Wells 242 55 674
Vale of White Horse 126 27 1,919
Waverley 91 14 1,288
Wealden 185 2n/a 1,066
West Berkshire 209 41 887
West Oxfordshire 38 9 1,453
Winchester 55 22 1,129
Windsor and Maidenhead 42 7 2,419
Woking 120 35 1,547
Wokingham 122 24 1,359
Worthing 218 2n/a 1,361
Wycombe 268 37 996
East of England Region
Babergh 106 2n/a 1,074
Basildon 429 72 2,878
Bedford 283 84 2,449
Braintree 167 45 2,503
Breckland 156 41 1,477
Brentwood 89 22 513
Broadland 209 43 1,066
Broxbourne 376 50 1,668
Cambridge 200 48 4,319
Castle Point 153 40 662
Chelmsford 316 83 3,733
Colchester 588 169 3,237
Dacorum 223 2n/a 3,479
East Cambridgeshire 167 32 1,042
East Hertfordshire 132 31 1,502
Epping Forest 119 23 1,914
Fenland 130 31 1,839
Forest Heath 66 7 1,063
Great Yarmouth 118 30 1,915
Harlow 252 61 1,933
Hertsmere 64 10 657
Huntingdonshire 113 19 1,791
Ipswich 182 46 2,764
Kings Lynn and West Norfolk 95 33 1,390
Luton 209 41 5,622
Maldon 84 27 511
Mid Bedfordshire 73 8 1,648
Mid Suffolk 89 22 1,545
North Hertfordshire 179 65 1,955
North Norfolk 187 51 860
Norwich 459 119 2,909
Peterborough 95 25 3,129
Rochford 60 11 873
South Bedfordshire 282 66 2,649
South Cambridgeshire 67 17 2,293
South Norfolk 130 35 1,524
Southend-on-Sea 83 2n/a 1,070
St. Albans 154 2n/a 1,603
St. Edmundsbury 93 27 1,801
Stevenage 102 22 3,249
Suffolk Coastal 121 38 955
Tendring 425 106 1,960
Three Rivers 134 2n/a 818
Thurrock 163 38 1,795
Uttlesford 73 2n/a 963
Watford 176 60 1,472
Waveney 182 45 1,675
Welwyn Hatfield 262 49 2,201
1 April-June 1999
2 n/a denotes that the authority has not yet reported

Source:

Housing Investment Programme returns 1999 and Quarterly P1E (Homelessness Activity) returns 1999 Q1

Local authorities have different practices for compiling and managing housing register/waiting lists which mean that simple comparisons between authorities can be misleading.