Responding to MHCLG’s announcement that 42 bids for the rapid rehousing pathway had been successful, Local Government Association Housing spokesman Cllr Martin Tett, said:
“Funding for local authorities will help council efforts to try and tackle homelessness. 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.
“Homelessness continues to rise and the people caught up in this crisis can’t afford for us to wait. We need to go much further, much faster.
“Proper resourcing of local government funding is essential if we are going to end homelessness. To stand still and deliver the same homelessness services currently being provided – for which funding has been significantly reduced in recent years – councils would need an additional £110 million by 2019/20. New funding needs to be long-term and joined up, to give councils the ability to prevent and tackle all forms of homelessness with lasting effects.
“Critical to this goal is giving councils the powers to keep 100 per cent of Right to Buy receipts, including the ability to set discounts locally, which will allow them to reinvest in building more good-quality affordable homes they desperately need. Councils also need to be able to adapt welfare reforms to prevent people from losing their home where possible.”