The Week in Housing: £1bn for councils to tackle homelessness, and a new devolution deal
Good afternoon.
In the biggest news of this week, English local authorities will receive nearly £1bn to tackle homelessness.
Angela Rayner, the deputy prime minister and housing secretary, called the funding announcement the “largest-ever investment” in homelessness.
The biggest slice – £633m – will go towards the Homelessness Prevention Grant, a £192m increase from this year. Our story breaks down the rest of the funding.
Councils and service providers have welcomed the funding. Adam Hug, housing spokesperson at the Local Government Association, said it would “relieve some of the financial burden” councils are under.
Charity Homeless Link also welcomed the announcement, but asked councils to move swiftly to confirm their contracts with homelessness service providers.
This comes as Inside Housing and Homeless Link launched a new campaign: Reset Homelessness. The campaign is calling for a systemic review of homelessness funding beyond the scope of this one-year announcement.
At the heart of the campaign is a sobering report by Homeless Link that charts what has happened to homelessness funding over time. The organisation has found that 41% of service providers are at risk of having to close or reduce homelessness services due to financial pressures.
This is the cover story on our new issue, out this week.
One added pressure is the new rise in employers’ National Insurance contributions, which this week charities have warned could lead to the closure of homelessness services if they are not exempt. Jools Ramsey-Palmer, chief executive of Ipswich Housing Action Group, told Inside Housing how the added cost will impact the charity, which provides a homelessness hub six days a week and some accommodation for people experiencing homelessness.
Ms Ramsey-Palmer said: “Staff are my greatest asset, because the nature of the people we work with is really complex, so that’s why we have a higher number of staff to volunteers. And that, of course, is my biggest expense in terms of staff costs.”
She added that the National Insurance contribution increase will cost the charity £16,000. “And, of course, our hub is a free-to-access service, so I’ve got no end consumer that I can pass that on to,” Ms Ramsey-Palmer said.
After homelessness, the next biggest news story of the week was devolution. Ms Rayner published a white paper proposing new “strategic authorities” and giving more power to regional mayors. The government is hoping the shake-up will help it deliver on its target of 1.5 million homes.
The government is also consulting on further changes that could make it cheaper for councils to buy land where social and affordable housing is being built.
Homes England has urged house builders to sign up to a new database to list Section 106 developments they are struggling to sell.
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