To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment has been made of the ability of local authorities to deliver their new duties under the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017.
Answered on
23 November 2017
The Homelessness Reduction Act requires local authorities to carry out additional duties to prevent and relieve homelessness and to intervene earlier to prevent homelessness.
The Government committed to fund the Act in line with the longstanding ‘new burdens’ doctrine. We announced funding of £61 million in January 2017 and, following further discussions with local authorities on the new duties, have provided an additional £11.7 million. This takes the total amount of new burdens funding to £72.7 million. We have committed to reviewing the implementation of the Act, including the resourcing of it and how it is working in practice, concluding no later than two years after commencement of the substantive clauses of the Act.
The new Homelessness Advice and Support Team, drawn from local authorities and the homelessness sector, is providing support to local authorities implementing the Homelessness Reduction Act.
We also fund the National Homelessness Advice Service to provide free training on the Homelessness Reduction Act.