Responding to a report from the Local Government Homelessness Commission, launched by the Local Government Information Unit, calling on the Government to adopt a national housing and homelessness strategy with sustainable funding for local authorities, the Local Government Association’s Housing spokesman, Cllr Martin Tett, said:
“Every instance of homelessness is an individual tragedy and councils are determined to prevent homelessness from happening in the first place and support families affected.
“With homelessness services facing a funding gap of more than £100 million in 2019/20 and £421 million by 2024/25, the Government needs to use its upcoming Spending Review to sustainably fund homelessness prevention.
“Many councils have updated their homelessness prevention strategies since the Homelessness Reduction Act was introduced last year. But a lack of affordable housing has left many struggling to cope with rising number of people coming to them for help and having to place more families and households into temporary and emergency accommodation as a result.
“This is why councils need to be able to keep 100 per cent of Right to Buy receipts to re-invest in genuinely affordable homes, set discounts locally, and government needs to adapt welfare reforms to protect families at risk of homelessness and prevent homelessness from happening in the first place.”