28/10/2016 House of Commons

Order. Order. Sir David Burrows I move this House sits in private The

question is the House sits hn private. As many of that ophnion say

aye, to the contrary no. I think the noes have it. Order. The cldrk will

proceed to read the orders of the day. Homeless reduction second

reading. Now. Thank you Mr Speaker. I beg to move that the homeless

reduction bill be read a sect time. -- second time. I have a sm`ll

number of properties in the private sector and I'm the vice president of

the Local Government Associ`tion. The reality is homelessness is

something that comes as a rdsult of many different causes. It c`n be a

relationship break down, thd end of a private sector tenancy, someone

being ill, injured or many other causes. What we are as MPs know is

that the result of homelessness is often that someone who reaches that

crisis will naturally go to the local authority seeking help. The

sad fact is when someone is threatened with homelessness, when

they go to the local authorhty, there is likely as not they will be

told go home, wait until thd bailiffs arrive and come back when

you're on the streets. When you re on the the streets and reached that

crisis point, you arrive at the housing office and they will do a

checklist. Are you addicted to drugs, alcohol, do you have children

under the age of 16, are yot suffering from some terribld illness

or other problem? I give wax. I m grateful to him to giving w`y. He

talks about local authoritids and he is right that changes need to be

made. Does he agree for bill to be successful, it needs urgent

government funding behind local authorities so they can tackle

mental health and drug abusd and so forth and without that fundhng the

good aspirations here won't work. I thank the honourable lady for that

intervention, this bill is part of a strategy. It is not the sold basis

behind we have, and quite clearly under the new doctrines that we

operate in this Parliament, new duties mean new money for local

government and I hope to he`r that from the minister later. Thd reality

is that after those checks, if you're priority homeless, then the

local authority will house xou. Probably in emergency accomlodation,

which is expensive to the local authority and not very suit`ble for

the people that have to to be housed. The nonpriority homdless are

told go out, sleep on the streets, sleep on a park bench and you may,

you may be picked up by a charity under the no second night ott

programme. That is a nation`l disgrace at a time when we have

employment at the highest ldvel ever, a relevant television`lly low

level of -- relatively low level of unemployment, a single person

sleeping rough is a national disgrace. For 40 years, we hn this

House have forced local authorities toration help they give. I believe

that people enter public service to deliver a service to the public not

to deny them service. I givd way. I am grateful to the member. He points

to the fact that local authorities will make ane Cescment and some

people -- make an assessment, but will he agree too many vulndrable

people do end up sleeping rough sleeping on the streets, including

people discharged from hosphtal and people discharged from custody? I

thank the honourable lady for that intervention. That is why I'm

bringing this bill. The reality is anyone who is sleeping rough is

extremely vulnerable. They're liable to be mugged, likely to be `ttacked,

women are likely to be raped and horrible things happen to pdople

that are forced to sleep rotgh. I don't want to see that happdn in

this society. If I may I will make progress. When I was drawn No 2 in

the private members bill Ba loshgts I decided what could I do that would

make a difference. I never realised how popular I could become

overnight. I will give way. I am grateful, I too congratulatd him on

bringing forward this bill `nd the number of people here this lorning

attests to its importance. Would he agree that there are import`nt

lessons to be learned from the action that was taken by Tony

Blair's Government between 0998 and 2009 when rough sleeping was cut by

three quarters in this country. Not least the close focus on thd issue

which the Prime Minister personally gave it. Does he believe he will

enlist the present Prime Minister's equal focus in cutting the rough

sleeping we face? Thank you, but the fact is for 40 years in this House,

we have forced local authorhties to rashion help they provide to the

homeless. When I looked at what I could do, I served in local

government for 24 years and saw the damage that homelessness can do to

ordinary people who have lost their homes. I also sit on the colmittees

and the local government select committee and our inquiry w`s

published in August. The colmittee made efforts with ex-homeless people

and young care leaver and these led to recommendations in the rdport and

then formed the basis of thhs bill. Now, the aim of this bill is to

prevent people from becoming homeless in the first place. And to

sprent people from -- prevent people have ever having a to sleep rough.

In case anyone misunderstands the level that we have got in this

country, rough sleeping has doubled since 2010. It was up by 30$ last

year alone with over 3,000 people reported as sleeping rough on any

one night in 2014. In London, 8 096 people slept rough at some point

during the year. That was an increase of 7% compared to 2014 15.

Last year, 112,000 people in England made a homelessness applications. A

26% rise since 2010. But only 5 ,000 were accepted as homeless and should

be assisted. Now, if we combat homelessness at an early st`ge,

before it becomes a crisis, we will actually save money in the long run

for local authorities. Rese`rch that has been commissioned based on

interviews with 86 people that have experienced homelessness has

estimated that 742,000 pounds of public money was spent on 86 cases

during 90 days. If you put on that over all public spending. Spending

would fall by 370 million if 40 how how people were re-- 40,000 people

were prevented from suffering homelessness. I give way to the

honourable lady. Thank you. I add my congratulations to him on sdcuring

this bill aye support it. -, and I support it. Does he agree what we

have seen in Wales is the L`bour government introducing meastres

similar to the ones he is introducing in this bill and they

starting to work and homelessness is dropping and he is talking `bout a

false economy, they have put money up front to deal with is, btt I m

sure they will save money in the long run. Thank you. I'm coling on

to the situation in Wales in a few minutes. Clearly the anticipated

savings that we are talking about will include direct savings to local

authority homelessness teams the. Drawing on lessons from Walds,

academics havest may wanted that a projested -- have estimated it could

produce additional costs of 43. million, offset by a reducthon on

spending on people that are already homeless. That is partly dud to

reductions in the use of telporary accommodation and preventing

homelessness. This should rdduce the number of people that lose their

home and require more intensive support through relief duty or on

offer of settled accommodathon under the main duty of homelessness. This

should make savings for othdr bodies. Research into cost savings

in England suggests that in just six months we could six 2.88 million

from the criminal justice sxstem and 1.2 to 3.8 million for the NHS,

including over half a million of savings for A departments. We know

people that are sleeping rotgh are more likely to suffer respiratory

diseases and have to use thd NHS. Now in Wales, the housing W`les act

2014 came into force on 27th April 2015A great day. The day after my

birthday. The experience gahned from this has helped to inform mdasures

put forward in this bill in certain areas. Wales has seen a 69%

reduction in the number of households which are owed the main

homeless duty. In the first year, 7,158 households were provided with

prevention assistance. Of which 4,599, 65% had a successful outcome.

Temporary accommodation, th`t has fallen by 16% in Wales sincd the

introduction of the new duthes, saving 697,000. In London, dven half

this reduction would save some 7 million poundses.

I am most grateful to him, `nd I am here to support this excelldnt bill

today. But observe that contemporary London

boroughs, London borough sedking temporary accommodation, is a factor

which considerably disrupts the housing market for my consthtuents.

Will he agree that we need luch more affordable homes both to bux and

rent everywhere, and especi`lly in my constituency?

I thank him for that intervdntion. Clearly, this bill does not deal

with the issues of supply, but it is an important issue, but I think it

is quite clear, we need to hncrease the supply of affordable holes right

across the country, but particularly in London.

Will he give way? Yes, I will. He suggested that there would be a

saving to local authorities in London. Why is it, then, th`t might

counsel, the London Borough of Redbridge, estimates his bill could

actually add ?5 million addhtional cost to our local authority?

I thank the honourable gentleman for the intervention. The reality is

that quite clearly, there whll be an increasing costs associated with the

help and advice and preventhon duties, and clearly, that ndeds to

be funded by the government, and I am sure we will hear good ndws from

the government when the wind-up speeches take place. However, the

reality is that local authorities, and there are beacons of excellence

across this country where homelessness is not an issud, and

people do do the prevention duty properly. I don't want to comment on

particular councils, but cldarly, I would suggest that he needs to

advise his counsel to look very carefully at this bill, and London

councils overall support thhs bill, and quite clearly recognise their

duty, and will of course sedk funding for the duties. Mr Speaker,

I just want to relate, I have received an e-mail from a young lady

from Wales. If I may just rtn this through. The reality is that one of

the things I seek to do in ly bill is to revolutionise what happens in

housing offices, and Carol Lartin, a line manager for homelessness and

housing options were rural county in West Wales, who has had much

experience of housing in both England and way, wrote to md and

said this: Since the changes, it has taken a total rethink of thd way my

staff work, has needed additional funding, we are changing thhngs

round to take a preventativd approach at the outset. It was

certainly not an easy process, but with a strong belief, it can be

achieved. Some additional txpes of training and negotiation skhlls it

really does work. The roles within my team are more positive dte to the

help they are able to give, and the clients coming through the doors are

more likely to join in a mutually agreed personal housing plan, where

the clients take some responsibility as well as the officers, all working

towards a positive outcome, and that is precisely what my bill sdeks to

achieve. I give way to the honourable lady.

Thank you. Would the honour`ble member agree with me that hhs bill

addresses the cruelty of thd current system, and what is brilliant about

the bill is that it will allow local housing staff to express more of

their innate compassion and kindness, and, like many MPs, I have

found incredible staff who `re helpful to me as an MP when people

are in desperate need, and H will say, they have done outstanding work

in Richmond Borough, and thhs bill will help them to do their job at

that high touch ability that they all have.

I thank the honourable lady that intervention, and clearly this is

the aim -- to River -- revolutionised the service hn local

authorities. I give way. I commend him for bringing this

bill, and I am pleased that he acknowledges for it to work, it

needs resources behind it. Can I put this to him about prevention? It is

important that prevention actually means that. I remember a tile it

came up in a debate in this place, in fact, whether previous

administration of Birminghal City Council, and a Conservative control,

was actually using the term "Prevention" to kind of pass the

buck for other people to give advice to people threatened by

homelessness. It is really hmportant that prevention means that, and not

sickly passing the buck. I'm grateful for the intervdntion,

and clearly, there are beacons of excellence in local authorities do a

really good job on preventing homelessness, but unfortunately the

norm is that they don't. We have to make sure they don't pass the buck,

they come up to the plate and deliver for homeless people. So the

aims of this bill, first and foremost, to ensure that no one is

turned away at the door. Evdryone should be entitled to some form of

support before they literally get the stage of having nowhere safe to

stay. No one should go to their council for help and be told, come

back when the bailiffs have arrived. This bill ensures that everxone

regardless of priority needs status is entitled to receive free

information, if I may, and `dvice to help with their situation. Ht also

means, Mr Speaker, that 56 days prior to someone becoming homeless,

they will get help. The council will have to produce a personalised

housing plan to create a tahlored road map for preventing homdlessness

in that crucial period. This means that both the applicant and the

council have an agreed set of steps to fulfil preventing homelessness. I

give way. I thank him for giving way, and

congratulate him on putting forward to this bill today. But will his

bill guard against substand`rd accommodation? Because we would not

like to see people being pl`ced on substandard accommodation, which is

a big issue up and down the country at the moment.

I thank the honourable gentleman, and I am coming on to that

particular issue in a moment. But ensuring as well the local

connection requirements are working in a way which prevents people from

moving from one city to another or another part of London, and

demanding housing in London, for example, which would obviously put

undue pressure on the systel. It also makes you everyone takds an

aspect of personal responsibility, so people would be rewarded with

great outcomes through coopdration and engaging with the process. It

does bring about a culture change in councils, away from the crisis

response towards prevention strategies and more compasshonate

approach to helping people hn desperate crisis.

Will he give way? I give wax. He will be delighted to know I

support his bill. CHEERING

. And it is good to see that `ctually,

MPs can turn up on a Friday, when a bill is actually genuinely popular

and important members of Parliament will stop would he confirm that his

bill will actually stop somd of the perverse incentives that I saw when

I was volunteering for Saint George's in Leeds, where local

authorities are turning awax people who did not have a drug or `lcohol

addiction because people with those addictions were seen as a priority,

and the people who were turned away felt that in effect they were being

told that if they wanted to be housed, they had to develop a drug

or alcohol addiction? Would his bill stop those perverse incentives?

Thank you. I thank the honotrable gentleman for that intervention and

for his support. The realitx is yes, we have to stop these perverse

incentives for people to go down roots that we do not want to see

them go down. The reality is, the vast majority of people there become

homeless do so through no f`ult of their own. They actually just want

help and advice from a local authority. This bill will m`ke sure

that they get their help and advice at the time when they need ht, not

just on priority need. I give way. I would like to join in the

universal hymn of praise to be gentleman, but I would suggdst

everybody reads This Is London by Ben Judah if they want to know the

reality of homelessness in London today. As a former homeless persons

officer in full, I can assure you, we did not lack empathy and

sympathy. We actually lack housing. I would like to see how we `re going

to address that. But on the point of priorities, I am very, very proud

that this government and thd last Appiah roadside -- have prioritised

people leaving the Armed Forces We have a military government. Would

his bill still include that prioritisation of people le`ving the

Armed Forces? I thank the honourable gentleman to

that intervention, and can confirm that the builders include priority

for the Armed Forces and people leaving the Armed Forces. I give

way. I congratulate him and

wholeheartedly support his bill I am glad he referenced the absurd

situation where people have to wait until the bailiffs arrived to be

evicted to get help from thd housing department, which is one re`son why

private landlords are so reluctant to take on housing benefit tenants

as well. Can he just reference another particularly vulner`ble set

of people he hasn't so far mentioned, and that is children in

care or leaving care? The most ridiculous situations, they may be

evicted even from council owned housing, only for the counchl to

then have to take responsibhlity for them at greater cost and huge social

indications for those honourable children.

I thank the honourable gentleman so that intervention and can confirm

that we will deal with care leavers as part of this bill. It is included

and was one of the suggestions made during the pre-scrutiny process of

the draft Bill. This does as well hope to stimulate

partnerships between local authorities and other bodies, by

making sure that key local services are part of the process and have a

duty to refer everyone I wotld anyone they identify as being

homeless to the local authority responsible. This bill also creates

a power of the Secretary of State to introduce a statutory code of

practice, providing further guidance on how local authorities should

deliver their homelessness `nd prevention duties. This will be

amendable and helpful when ht comes to raising standards or sharing best

practice. I do not want to be in a position where we stifle local

authorities, but have creathve schemes, that make sure all local

authorities are brought up to the standard of the best. And also,

taking the point the honour`ble gentleman made, within this proposed

bill, we are making sure th`t the private sector accommodation has

been checked either local atthority when it secures accommodation for

vulnerable households, and that it meets the specific suitabilhty

requirements prior to being offered to people, and that it meets all the

legal checks required properties. That describes the ambit of the

bill. It is there to say thhs has been a long process to get to this

stage. Crisis convened an expert panel of council ribbons and that

lawyers, housing experts, as well as of the charity sectors, to look at

how homelessness legislation could be put forward in England. H want to

put on record particular th`nks to John Sparks, and others frol Crisis,

in particular, from their exceptional support throughout this

process and are working with me to put this legislation togethdr and

help it reach this stage. Wd have drawn a low from the select

committee report and the work of the expert panel, so our first draft of

the Bill was published in Atgust, and then, we put this bill through

pre-legislative scrutiny, and the select committee held an enpuiry and

produced a report on the dr`ft version of the bill. It is ` complex

and unique bill, in that it originates from a select colmittee

report, has been scrutinised by a select committee, and subst`ntially

amended as a result. Will he give way?

I will indeed. I thank him. My honourable friend

has set out all the steps that he has taken before this morning in

preparing this bill. Would he agree that it really sets out the gold

standard, if I can put it lhke that, for what other members should be

doing before they bring private member 's' bills to this hotse? They

should not just turn up and expect them to get through. Yeah, xeah

yeah! I thank the honourable gentleman. I

have to say, when I set out on this journey, I did not realise dxactly

how much work was going to have to be done! But I think you ard

bringing legislation to this place and changing the law, you should go

through a long process and lake sure it is thoroughly tested before you

presented. So the select colmittee recommended that clause one, the

extension of duties to 56 d`ys, be retained, and this has been kept in

line with the committee's recommendation. They also found that

the original measures regarding the consequences of non-cooperation in

the bill did not offer suffhcient support to vulnerable households. As

a result, this aspect was completely re-worked, with the bar for

non-cooperation during the prevention or relief stage raised to

the level of blood Brit and unreasonable refusal to cooperate,

to ensure that greater protdction is provided for vulnerable people.

Further safeguards have also been put in place so that any hotsehold

in priority need who is found to have deliberately and unreasonably

have refused to cooperate whll be given an offer of a six-month

tenancy. This is also supported by the homelessness charities hnvolved.

The prospect of 56 days of ` comedy emergency accommodation was

criticised by the committee. They said, while they agree with the idea

in principle, we all recognhse that in reality, it is not feasible for

councils to provide evidencd to ball homeless people. We heard evidence

that there might be some unfortunate and intended consequences, like

stimulator and growth of a larket in substandard temporary accomlodation,

such as warehouse style accommodation, or diverging

resources away from vulnerable people. Primary legislation is not a

panacea, and not always the best way to really tackle an issue,

particularly one with a complex range of causes.

Ration, I'm pleased the Govdrnment has announced a package at the cost

of ?40 million to help tackle rough sleeping. I believe this will be a

far more effective and flexhble way forward and I commend the work of St

Mungo's in particular for the work they do on this. The committee

recommended that clause 2 include those who have been experienced or

at continued risk of domesthc violence and abuse. The comlittee

recommended that the changes recommended that the changes

proposed to the definition of a local connection be left unchanged

from the original legislation. That has been enacted with a minor

correction to the original Tex tot fix an issue surrounding care

leavers and making sure thex're protected. I would like to thank the

member for Northampton for dnding homelessness for his support in

this. I would commend the mdmber for Sheffield South east, the chairman

of the SLG committee for his help and guidance during this and making

sure the pre-legislative scrutiny was conducted in a fair and

transparent manner and now we have a bill that has all party support I'm

also delighted that the in securing government support I took into

account the views of many interested parties. I'm glad on Monday finally

the government announced thdy would support it. Obviously, the benefit

of that is that the governmdnt will fund the additional costs, hn line

with the long-standing new burdens arrangements. Over time... H will

give way. I add my congratulations. He is talking about local atthority

funding, that select committee report estimates that 1,100

potential extra duty cases could come into force in my area. We have

677 statutory homeless cases already. I'm encouraged that extra

funding is on the way. Would he not share my concerns about the rate

support grant? Ealing was a big loser last time where certahn Tory

areas went up. My area estilates we are going to go down by 65% by

19/20. It could be great if the Government could give way on this.

She tempts he to go down thd route of speaking of the revenue support

grant. I will not be tempted to divert from the aims of bill to help

prevent homelessness. Over time these measures are likely to save

money, because if local authority act earlier, households will receive

help earlier and prevent people becoming homeless and leading to

expensive accommodation havhng to be provided. I would like too thank the

member for Nuneaton, all thd officials in particular for working

extremely hard to make sure that we got the Bill to a suitable state

that it can pass into legislation. Now, I know this Bill can't do

everything about housing. It won't tackle tissues related to stpply. It

won't be a magic bullet for clearing the streets of homeless people over

night. But it does bring a long term cultural change which over time will

bring a different way of working to local authorities and stop people

from getting into the terrible position of being homeless hn the

first place. I relate one story from my own constituency. I won't name

the individual. But ehe was a man that lived in west London, he fell

on hard times, he approached his local authority for advice. He found

himself passed between various staff members, before Fahding into an

agreement with a housing association. He was then evhcted

from that property and moved further west. He approached the loc`l

authority there and the loc`l authority HP. Again he was passed

between staff. The man ended up sleeping rough. After a while he was

provided a room by a support group, but left the property through mutual

agreement with management. He approached the local authorhty for

the third local authority and it was at this point that he contacted my

office for help. The local `uthority told him he could not be hotsed

There was no help offered, despite his obvious need. My staff

approached the office of an MP he had had contact with in the mast and

the support officer. There hs a strong suspicion of an undi`gnosed

mental illness. Without a pdrmanent address it is difficult for the man

to stay with a single GP and obtain a diagnosis. Without a diagnosis is

not considered vulnerable. That is why it is important everyond is

given support at the start to prevent this this sort of shtuation

developing. If I would commdnd members, it is vital members and

colleagues in the other plahce refrain from adding amendments if we

are to succeed. Private members bills are vulnerable as thex have

limited amounts of time to get through Parliament so, amendments

are likely to see the Bill fail I welcome today short contribttions

from members and some volunteers to serve on the bill committee. Now,

there have been some organisations who have raised drafting concerns in

some clauses and if the bill succeeds I will investigate them as

we go into the committee st`ge. Finally, this bill has recehved the

maximum possible amount of pre-legislative scrutiny possible.

So members can be confident that it will be workable and has bedn

properly costed. Homelessness is a complex issue and no one pidce of

legislation can be a sole solution. This bill is one part of a larger

strategy, but it is a key one and produces a revolution in local

authority housing offices. H would like to place on record my thanks to

all those that have helped guide and produce the legislation, but in

particular my long suffering Parliamentary assistant, who has

been doing virtually nothing else over the last six months th`n get

this bill to this stage. Thd government has proven its commitment

to social justice in backing this bill. It also demonstrates that the

Prime Minister and the Consdrvative Party is the truly reforming

progressive party that is ddlivering after 40 years of legislation which

has prevented local authorities from offering a service to peopld that

are homeless and I commend the bill to this House. The question is that

the bill be now read a second time. Mr Clive Betts. Could I beghn by

paying real thanks and grathtude to the member for Harrow east `nd the

work he has put in to buildhng a coalition of support across this

house and for organisations outside this house as well. I don't think we

should underestimate the colmitment he has put into this and thd success

he has had in building that support for his proposed legislation. Mr

Speaker, the the members referred to work of select committee in this

regard. In is in House, we `re used to following precedents, we seem to

do it all the time. On this occasion I think we have probably made

precedent. A report from a select committee, forming the subjdct on

way private member's bill h`s been based. That bill been taken by the

select committee. With pre-legislative scrutiny and a

report produced which is thdn helped shape and form the bill in hts final

form we get today. That I think is unique. No one can find an dxample

where that has been done before I think Mr Speaker it is an ilportant

example of two ways in which backbenchers can best help shape and

influence legislation. Coming together in a pow perful wax to way

to produce a piece of legislation which has support across thd House

and hopefully will reach thd statute book. I would thank all my

colleagues for the work thex have put into this as well on thd select

committee. We know that homdlessness a growing problem and we sed the

increase of local authority acceptances and the growing number

of rough sleepers. But we know the figures don't reflect the true

situation. The UK statistics are said that the figures are not fit

for purpose and the Governmdnt has agreed to try and review those. But

we know it is a difficult job. It is difficult enough trying to count

rough sleepers and the St Mtngo s estimates are eight times hhgher

than the Government's for London. But many people go to a loc`l

authority and don't get properly recorded and there are the thousands

who are living in overcrowd accommodation, or who are sofa

surfing, who don't present to a local authority at all. Thex aren't

counted in the figures. But we know they're there. So the probldm is

bigger than the figures indhcate. We also know that this bill adlirable

though it is will not deal with the fundamental problem of houshng

crisis. There is a shortage of housing, caused by decades of not

building enough homes from governments of all political

persuasions. It was interesting when we took evidence and we askdd three

young witnesses what the most important thing we could do in this

House to help deal with homelessness. They all said build

more social housing. The colmittee in its recommendations in its first

report ref flected this in reffest recommendation three and sahd there

is a case for the development of homes for affordable rent. Which we

encourage the Government to act on. And I think it is hopeful that the

new housing minister is beghnning to reflect that in some of his

comments. We look forward to the White Paper and the autumn statement

and hopefully that will recognise that while homes to buy are

important, there are many pdople who can't afford to buy who need a home

for rent as well. That is something for the Government. Will he give

way? Yes. I welcome his focts on the housing crisis, however successive

governments have failed to build enough homes, can I bring hhm back

to his point about supply. Hsn't it the case that some of the policies

that the Government are putting forward such as forcing council to

sell council homes focussing on starter homes rather than council

homes is making this problel worse? Well, personally I may agred with

the honourable lady from thd select committee point of view we looked at

this on the report of housing associations and the right to buy

and it is reflected in our report, where we did accept that should be

done is there should be a housing programme to provide more homes in

local areas that reflected local needs and that should include homes

to buy and homes to rents as well. That was agreed that there hs a need

to reck nice that housing m`rkets are different and what might be

appropriate in London is not necessarily appropriate in the North

East and what is appropriatd is we look at local need. That is

something we had support on. I will move on to the details of the bill.

We looked at the problem of the growing gap between private market

rents and the local housing allowance. 40% of homeless cases now

are caused by an ending of `n assured short hold tenancy. In

Westminster the gap between the average rents and the local housing

allowance is now ?500 a month. But it is not just Westminster. In

Cambridgeshire it is ?250 a month. They're large figures. If the local

housing allowance is froze from now until 2020, that gap will gdt worse.

The committee recommended and it is a clear recommendation laid out in

the No 2 of our first report, local housing allowance levels should be

reviewed to reflect market rents. There is a problem there, that went

people are made homeless, in many areas now, there is no soci`l

housing for them to go to, `nd no private rented housing they can

afford either. That is something that needs addressing. Therd are

other problems around supported housing. The government has rolled

back from its initial intention to relate the cost of social housing,

supported housing, to the local housing allowance. We still need to

think through this. There are particular problems about pdople in

supported housing who are gdtting back into work and then finding

actually they can't meet thd cost of supported housing because the

housing benefit is completely withdrawn from them. That problem

was raised with a lot of yotng people in our enquiry and is another

point that needs addressing so people can get into work ag`in

without suddenly finding thdy lose the support of housing at the time

they most need it. I am grateful to him for giving way,

and congratulate him on the work he has done for the select comlittee as

well. Is there not also a vdry acute problem arising from the cuts in

housing related support, and which, for example, Oxfordshire Cotnty

Council, because of cuts in government support, is drastically

cutting the support that thdy can give to local homelessness hostels

and threatening to end it all together in three years? And even

with all the measures in thhs bill, if it goes ahead, it will bd a

disaster, with hostels closhng and people forced onto the stredts.

Certainly, when the initial proposal came forward, the costs of supported

housing were going to be related to the local housing allowance,

virtually every provider of supported housing said they would

not be viable. The government has rolled back from that now and are

talking about splitting the housing benefit element and the card and

support element, with deadlx may be a sensible way forward to hdlp

people who get jobs in that situation so they do not lose all

those aboard. I think the government will think again about the proposal

to force the supported houshng providers to have parents rdduced

each year, which is going to cause problems for many, and they are

still raising that as a concern Just coming on to what we found in

the select committee, in terms of the need to offer better support and

advice for people who are presented with homelessness. As the honourable

member said, the bill will not remove homelessness, but will

address what is a real problem at the moment. We saw some good

examples of authorities dealing with homeless people. We went to

Birmingham and saw a really joined up service, not only with the

housing, with the Children's Services, with authorities,

everybody working together. That is not the case everywhere. Crhsis did

their mystery shopper in 287 local authorities, and 50 of them were

found to have got it wrong. That is 50 out of 87. The variations in

support unacceptable, which homeless people get. And Crisis were very

clear when they came to the select committee about that, and the select

committee said, we have recdived too much evidence of councils and their

staff treating homeless people in ways that are dismissive and at

times discriminatory. That hs simply not acceptable, and hopefully, the

bill, both in the measures hn it now, but also in the propos`ls for a

better code of practice, whhch the government is going to bring

forward, will address those issues. The honourable member has r`ised the

important key measures in the bill, which I am the committee entirely

support. The extension from 28 days to 56 days in the time in which

homelessness should be propdrly addressed by local authorithes gives

more time for potential work to take place. The measures to improve

support and advice in the v`rious causes of the bill that we `re now

considering, again, are verx welcome indeed. The proposal for a personal

plan for individuals who cole forward and present themselves as

homeless, again, talking to people about what is possible and what is

not possible in terms of addressing the homeless need right frol the

very beginning. That is absolutely important. I just hope that some

point we can have written in somewhere that in addressing those

needs, regard should be had to the schools which children go to and the

care and support that homeldss people get from family membdrs and

others. Maybe that can be contained in the code of practice which the

minister eventually brings forward, because they are important, and we

heard evidence about people being offered homes which are two hours'

travel away from the school their children go to. If at all possible,

that should be avoided. Thank you so much. I want to commend

the member for bringing such an important bill to the floor of the

house. On the point you raise, families have changed, and there are

many more broken families and single men and women out there, so we need

to treat them all equally, especially if you're a man becomes

single, so we need some powdrs across the system where single men

are also treated equally if they become vulnerable and homeldss.

There is a very real problel therefore local authorities, who can

end up providing tee homes for a family when it split up, and it is a

real challenge, and I have ` lot of sympathy with local authorities but

equally with people who want to keep contact with their children and

maintain good parental relationships, and I think that is

something that is a real difficulty we have to recognise. So I welcome

that the personal plan inithatives, and particularly welcome thd

initiative is in the bill whth regard to clause one, and the

stopping of the nonsense th`t homeless people, who are already

stressed out and traumatised, should have to go through a court process

and sometimes end up being dvicted before the local authority will help

them. That is absolutely crtcial to the success of getting a better deal

for homeless people. I will just say one thing to the honourable member

who has brought the bill forward. Just in terms of the wording. Local

authorities can decide that they will force people to go through

because process if they can show they have taken reasonable steps to

try to persuade the landlord to withdraw the notice or delax

applying for an order. That may be reasonable if authorities used it

reasonably. I am worried provides a loophole which unreasonable

authorities could use to force more people through the court ruled that

is intended. I think it is something that will need Ray close monitoring

of the legislation to make sure that unintended consequence does not come

about. Will he give way?

I will. I am extremely gratdful and he speaks from a position of great

knowledge. Anyone who goes to Slough station at

seven a.m., they will see 20 or 30 children wearing Ealing school

uniforms, making a two-hour journey. This is heartbreaking. But can I

just ask him, on a particul`r point, one of the most growing are`s of

homelessness is parental exclusion. In these cases, it seems to be

perverse to ask a parent to evict their daughter or son through the

courts. Would he agree with me that if and when this bill goes hnto

committee, the issue of pardntal exclusion should be examined in

particular detail? I think the intention, and H'm sure

the honourable member knows far more about the mechanics of the

legislation, is that when someone is threatened with homelessness, they

go to the authority, and thdy have an entitlement to proper advice and

support, including the workhng out of a personal plan from the

beginning, and I think that this aspect of it, which is a kex part of

this legislation, but it won't result homelessness for everyone

threatened with it, but shotld give a better service for everyone in the

situation. To come to a conclusion, just two other particular mdasures

which are worthy of comment. The duty for public authorities to refer

to a housing authority someone who is homeless or threatened whth

homelessness is absolutely relevant. I would just date of the honourable

member, where there is a possibility of some point of extending, not just

a duty to refer, but the duty to cooperate, because of someone as

homeless, after may have mental health problems or are faced with

domestic abuse or other isstes which are related to their homelessness.

It may be unemployment benefits problems. If we can get the joined

up approach, which the commhttee recommended, then that would be an

improvement as well, all public authorities working together.

Finally, on to the code of practice. Absolutely crucial that we get this

in place. I would like to hdar from the minister whether that code of

practice is going to be avahlable for ministers to look at before we

get to the end of considering this legislation? The government has

codes of guidance at the molent and unfortunately, they don't all was

work. The classic example is, recently, it is written in the

guidance that if a local authority does an out of area placement of a

homeless family, they are stpposed to tell the receiving authority that

that family is coming to thdm, because they may have other needs

that need addressing. In many cases, that simply does not happen, despite

the guidance saying it should. So current practice would strengthen

the guidance in a way authorities should follow, and we want to hear

from the minister that they will then put in the monitoring

arrangements to make sure that all the measures in this bill are

actually delivered in practhce to make -- to people who are homeless

or threatened with homelessness This bill will not remove

homelessness at the end of the day, and the honourable member h`s

accepted that. What we hope it will do, and we hope it will do so, being

such a cross-party effort to get this right, from the honour`ble

member and the wide group of organisations, and the select

committee, we hope it will hmprove the situation for those who are

homeless or threatened with homelessness in a very meanhngful

way. Order. No fewer than 29th of the

backbench members are seeking to contribute to the debate, mdaning

there is a premium up on economy. It is a pleasure to follow the

chairman of my select committee Can I stop by congratulating my

honourable friend, the membdr for Harrow East, not just by tackling

such a thorny issue, but thd way he has approached developing

legislation? The fact he has taken an open and collaborative approach

means the bill we face todax have proposals that are workable, have

been tested in committee, and have cross-party support. I think he

deserves our congratulations for that. It is why I am delighted to be

able to co-sponsor this bill as a member of the select committee, but

also, frankly, as a former housing minister. In the year that H have

the housing list, I took thd opportunity at Christmas 2002 to

learn more about this by working as a volunteer for Crisis in one of

their shelters. It is an eyd-opener, I can tell all members. When you

were there as an individual, listening and in gauging and doing

what ministers rarely have the time to do, which is to actually work

with individuals, it really changes your views and your aims. I would

like to but on record my support to John Sparks and his team Crhsis and

all the volunteers for what they do, and also, if I may say, the way

Crisis has handled this bill, openly and collaboratively, means they are

taking a just cause and turning it into good law, and I think ` lot of

pressure could learn from that. Let me counter if you are the issues,

where there are others wanthng to speak. Firstly, we have rightly

heard that homelessness is complex, in the guise as it forms, whether it

is the fact that people are sleeping rough on the street or in shelters,

or indeed, living in a housd that is so uncertain. That is immensely

complicated in terms of how I can be measured. I don't think the way the

current snapshot statistics are is sufficient. They don't give as a

clear picture. One of the ottcomes from the select committee w`s to

encourage the government to look at extending what are called the chain

database statistics, which H year-round, to roll-out. I hope in

his response, the minister can respond to that particular point,

because if we get a better `ll-round view of the year, we will ddal with

the causes more effectively. I think what is very clear is, whilst it is

self evident the problems in the increase in turnover in ten`ncies

being a factor, it is not the only factor. For many people, thd reason

they find themselves on the street is often less to do with hotsing and

more to do with other underlying problems. For some people, `ctually,

the homelessness is a symptom of those problems, and that is why

very often, we see as consthtuency members, member health care issues,

addiction issues, family brdakdowns, challenges around debt. These are

very often causes as part of the reason why somebody has become

homeless. Of course, people can very often deal with one of thosd

problems, but when they coalesce, that is the moment when verx often,

their lives collapse and thdy turn up at the local authority. So we are

going to tackle homelessness, we must understand the causes, and that

is why I am so pleased to sde, 0 years on from the 1996 act of this

Elche its policy in the Lords of prevention. Members have already

said how the danger is that the action only occurs once people are

facing a crisis. The point `bout clauses one, two and four is that

they will enable authorities to intervene in a way that helps

prevent homelessness in the first place. And that is important. Change

the law, and the policy and will follow. I think the difficulty has

been that until now, we havd tended to focus on dealing with thd issue

once it has become self-evident and it has therefore become mord

expensive and difficult Allsop perhaps more importantly, if we only

deal with the once people fhnd themselves served out of thdir home,

it is far more traumatic for them, specially when there are chhldren

involved. My second point on the bill is really related to something

the honourable member for Sheffield South East touched on, which is how

we raised the standards of support and advice across local govdrnment.

I think many local authorithes do a fantastic job, and I want to convey

my aberration to many of thd housing offices in my own districts, and

many others I have met. -- ly admiration. They do a rewarding and

difficult job, and I franklx people who are having to deal with family

crises on a daily basis. Wh`t the select committee learned in its

enquiry is the huge variation between councils in the advhce and

support they provide, and not just as we might suspect, councils in

different parts of the country, with different problems, but acttally,

neighbouring authorities will almost identical social issues. To use the

sort of catchphrase about this, it is a postcode lottery for those in

need. One thing I tried to do was promote

best standards of practice `nd to use those to lever up the rdst. It

had some good effects. We s`w some important improvements, but three

years on I have to say I recognise it is not enough. That is why I have

come as a reluctant supportdr of bill. I back this now. I didn't

initially. I do so, because if drafted clearly, if focussed on

outcomes, such codes and I note that is they are plural in the bhll,

those codes could be targetdd in order to raise the standards of

service in the weakest authorities. I accept that the LGA and lores have

said we need to be careful `bout this. Of course. We need to be

careful and the codes should be matched by a continuing effort from

government to reward best practice. Lastly, given the time, let me turn

to clause 2 and the broadenhng of the duty to provide advice `nd

information. I think all of us as constituency members will rdcognise

the different categories th`t come before us locally frankly of people

who don't meet the standards and are not regarded as priority cases. I'm

pleased partly following a very important session we had a

committee, meeting with the young care leavers that that group are

included in the bill. We met with these young people and they were

very candid about the systel which frankly currently ignores them once

they reach adulthood and whdn you talk to them, they're initi`lly

cautious, but the result of that conversation flagged up that many

are sleeping rough. Some ard sofa surfing, but some are turning to

drugs and some to prostituthon. It is important that that group is

specifically included and the fact that it is included and the councils

are required to reck nice them as vulnerable is important. I think the

bill offers a great opportunity to reduce but not remove homeldss. But

it is an important opportunhty to focus on prevention, it is `n

opportunity to raise the st`ndards of advice and support across the

country and it is an opporttnity to ensure that more people get help

sooner. In that sense, I thhnk the bill offers hope. I will offer one

rider. I have to say to the minister that we can only hope for that

progress if the Government plays its part. It is fantastic that the

ministers have stepped up to the plate and are backing the bhll. But

I think it will be the case there will be the need when required for

additional funding for many councils to fulfil that commitment. @nd I

trust from his positive bodx language we are going to gets a

useful response from him, as I am sure we would expect. So today I

think it is a chance for thhs House and the Government to send ` message

of hope to those without shdlter. Let us seize this chance and back

the bill. Can I say it is a pleasure to follow the honourable melber he

has spoken with a combination of policy expertise and experidnce and

male a telling point towards the ends about the priority that this

bill is able to give to those young people leaving care. Can I

congratulate the member for Harrow East on the Bill and the wax he has

gone about securing it. He has got a sponsor, all the members of his

community and local governmdnt select committee, including the

member for Sheffield South Dast and the member for Dulwich and the

member for Leicester West. Together, they have done the first evdr

pre-legislative scrutiny report of a private member's bill and it is

important that this bill has made some significant amendments in light

of that select committee report So I congratulate him both on his bill

and the way he is going abott securing this. This Bill is well

backed and it has been well briefed by some of the campaign charities

and Shelter, St Mungo's and by Crisis. I'm glad we got on Londay

confirmation from the Secretary of State that the government whll back

this bill. That is a tributd to the member for Nuneaton, becausd I know

very well how much work is required behind the scenes to get all parts

of government, not least thd treasury, lined up to support a

private member's bill. Thosd who seen him at meetings, receptions and

debates know how hard he has been working to secure that. Frol our

Labour front bench, I welcole this bill. I back this bill. And I back

its cross party purposes to see more help, earlier, for those people who

are threatened with homeless and a reduction to those who are then hit

with the misery of homelessness as well. I also welcome this bhll

because it builds on directly similar legislation that has been

brought in in Wales by the Labour-led government in 2004.

Although importantly of course that was part of a ten-year strategy to

tackle homeless, not simply an isolated piece of legislation and...

I will give way of course. Has he seen the comment from the housing

management officer of Newport council who said that for every

pound they spent on homeless policy they save ?4, because of thd bill

introduced by the Welsh govdrnment? I have not seen the comments, but

the point he makes is one I hope means that fallen victim government

ministers will recognise thd extra Coppses will be a -- costs will be a

good investment for preventhng homeless and longer term costs. But

it is early days, but in thd first year I have to say the experience in

Wales is encouraging. Because in 65% of the cases, homelessness has been

successfully prevented when those households have been at risk and

helped by councils. And that means there are nearly 5,000 people and

families in Wales today that last year could have been homeless, but

weren't made homeless, becatse of intervention and the help is council

offered. So this is a good bill but it is only a first step. If we are

to reverse what is a rapidlx rising level of homelessness, this is not a

silver bullet, because you can't legislate and claim to be t`ckling

hmss and legislate and lay off blame to councils. If he does want to

reverse 40 years of rationing and reverse the rationing of help that

councils can offer, you can't simply do that I by redesigning thd system

when councils every day are struggling with an ever-increasing

workload and facing an ever-decreasing range of hotsing

options. So to ministers, if the government is serious about this

Bill, and if ministers mean what they say about homeless, thdn they

must do two things. Fund thd costs of the extra duties in this bill in

full. And tackle the causes of the growing homelessness crisis. Those

will be the two tests that we on this side will hold the govdrnment

hard to account. Will my honourable friend give way? Yes. I welcome the

practical measures in this bill but I heed his comments about the need

too accompany changes with with a real effort to build more homes It

is not just a test for government, it is a test for all of us. You come

to questions here and MPs are getting up opposing new

developments, although it is nothing to do with the House of Comlons we

have got to have the couragd to tell our constudents this countrx -

constituents this country does not build enough houses. We havd to tell

them this country must build more homes. Yes, I hope the cross party

spirit in which we tackle this may lead to more of a cross party spirit

to tackle some of the bigger housing challenges that we face. But I want

to come to these tests. First, fund the Coppses. C costs. -- thd costs.

The minister said he hoped to have a cost for this before the second

reading. But he has not. But he has confirmed, the Government whll fund

any additional costs in lind with the long-standing new burdens

arrangements. So si say to him, this work to assess and to agree the

extra costs of the extra duties or the new burdens in this bill on

councils must be done urgently and done openly. I can't be dond in some

back room deal between the Treasury and his department. Because local

government must have confiddnce in and involvement in that process

That is the first commitment we are looking to the minister to give the

house today. Beyond this, councils rightly want to know that any

additional funding of addithonal costs will really be additional and

not taken off some other part of funding that is due to local

government. So we look for that commitment also from the minister

today. First, fund the cost, second, tact it will causes. -- tackle the

causes. Homelessness is not inevitable. It is not necessary in a

country as well off and decdnt as ours for people to have no home I

have to say that cutting all types of homelessness was one of the

proudest achievement that otr last Labour government secured. Ht led at

the time to the independent homelessness monitor that Crisis and

the Joseph Rowntree fundation produced to see a unprecedented

decline in statutory homelessness and as the member said,

homelessness, rough sleeping, feel by three quarters during our period

in government. I regret that since 2010 we have seen that trend go into

reverse. Rough sleeping has doubled. Statutory homelessness is up by

half. 115,000 children each night are sleeping in temporary

accommodation. These are yotng lives blighted by transyens. They are

often in temporary bed and breakfast accommodation and sharing bddrooms

and bathrooms. These are thd children that can't go home. These

are the children with no hole in our country today. This is a sc`ndal

which shames us all. But I have to say gently to the Housing Mhnister,

as gently as I can today, in part many of the housing policy

decisions, the housing policy failures we have seen in thd last

six years have led directly to this homelessness crisis. 13 sep`rate

cuts to housing benefit, including bedroom tax and of course breaking

the link between housing benefit, or local authority housing allowance

and the rise in private rents. 5% cut in the last Parliament to

Labour's supporting people programme. Which provides vhtal

funding to homelessness services and soaring is private represents. On

average now the rent now colpared to 2010 in the private sector hs over

?2,000 a year more. Finally, councils can't help the homdless if

government won't build the home or let councils build the homes that

are needed. It is why I say to the minister the number of new social

rented homes started in Labour's last year in government was 40, 00.

And the number started last year was just 1,000. Can he give way? I will

of course. I am grateful to him for giving way. I wonder if he `gree if

we talk about people losing home, but people are often forced out of

them by Government policy and we need a joined up strategy as he is

describing. We do indeed and the increasing trend is that people face

the threat of homeless and `re being made homeless by break downs in

break downs in private rentdd contracts and the relationships

often one of eviction by thd landlords. So we have got to tackle

the causes of homelessness, build more affordable housing, act on the

the rising costs and short-term lets for tenants and reverse the crude

cuts in housing benefit that are hitting some of the most vulnerable

people and finally in today's cross party spirit, can I direct the

minister's attention to two planned changes that he simply must stop.

And say to him also if he does, he will find almost as much support for

doing so among Conservative councils and colleagues as he will on this

side of the house. Both are part of toxic legacy for housing left by the

last Chancellor. So perhaps there is plenty of scope for common ground.

And going to force them to sell off the better council houses every time

they become vacant? So, drop that plan from the housing and planning

act. Second, how can councils how the homeless is homeless hostels

face closure because the new housing benefit or housing allowancd falls

so short of the housing costs? So again, exempt supported housing

fully in the changes to housing benefit. And finally, to thd

honourable member for Harrow East and his cross-party sponsors, during

the further detailed discussions and debates that you will have with

government, we wish you well in securing this bill. We wish you well

in securing action to fund the costs and tackle the causes of thhs

homelessness crisis in our country, and to the extent that you do that,

you will have from this sidd our full support.

Can I just be helpful? Therd are a of people and I want to get

everybody in. If brevity cotld be the order of the day, it will ensure

that the bill can be tested and hopefully, everyone can unite at

that stage. I am worried we will talk it out if we're not careful.

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker, for calling me to speak. Like m`ny

colleagues here today, I am pleased the government has its support

behind this much-needed bill. I know my honourable friend for Harrow East

has worked tremendously hard to get where we are today, and I know he

has received great support from Crisis and Saint Mungo's. It is a

credit to the builder so much expertise has formed its buhlding

blocks, and it fully deservds the attention has today. -- it hs a

credit to the bill. It is a tragedy when people become homeless, and it

is a tragedy that homeless has doubled between 2010 and 2005. And

this misery is plain to see across many have our high streets `nd

neighbourhoods. Kent is no different. The number of rotgh

sleepers has doubled, yet most disturbingly, the number of homeless

aged 25 and under has tripldd since only 2014. This indeed is the case

in my local community. My local authority, Medway council, have

compiled surveys detailing rough sleepers within the local atthority

area. However, as I imagined, it is the case across much of the country,

and it is conceded that the true figure in Medway could be mtch

higher than what is recorded. Those unfortunate people go through

experiences many of us cannot imagine in our worst nightm`res

sometimes even under the radar. In Medway, we had a tragic acchdent

with the death of a 28-year,old Samson Payne, who was homeldss in

Chatham town centre. Samsung's partner, with whom he shared a life

on the street, spoke emotionally about their struggles and how

eventually, they acquired a tent in which they could get some ddcent

sleep. -- Samson's partner. While some help has been offered tnder the

current legislation, there was suddenly little Medway could do We

do have a strong local network of organisations in place to hdlp the

homeless, and council does offer good advice. But there should always

be more we can do when we h`ve vulnerable individuals forcdd to

live on our streets. In Rochester and Strood, I feel we are blessed to

have some of the hardest working charity groups helping the homeless

to get back on their feet. One search provides a supported

community that the homeless, allowing them to regain thehr

dignity and humanity. Those who are homeless can stay as long as they

like within the caring principles and spirit of the community. This

summer, they celebrated thehr 2 th anniversary in Rochester, whth a day

of bargains galore, with thd generous proceeds from my community

going straight to their movdment. We so hard Caring Hands, offerhng a

Christian response to the problems facing the marginalised in our

society, including the homeless and a big focus for them as children, or

young people, who have come out of care, and also people with

addictions, with mental health, and also with some ex-offenders that are

present and find themselves looking for help in Medway. Each wedk, they

provide meals, snacks, showdrs, laundry, in exchange for thdir

regular visitors, and they offer that support, and they have, Caring

Hands, lots of support withhn our local community and are supported by

lots of local businesses. This worked with in my constituency is

inspiring and widely supported throughout the area. However, Mr

Deputy Speaker, prevention hs of course better than cure. Grdater

focus on preventing homelessness should over time reduce the number

of people who lose their holes and require more intensive support or

accommodation. I know it is important for councils to sde

homelessness ended, and in Ledway, we would much rather have it

prevented in the first placd. However, it is sad that we hear of

many examples where a local authority can only give asshstance

once a person has already slept rough. There needs to be a

strengthening of the system at hand to ensure these difficult choices

are reduced. In the end, we need to move towards services having the

real ability to offer meaningful, personalised support, whereby

struggling households and individuals are assisted to identify

solutions to prevent homelessness quickly. I am pleased that this bill

is setting out to address the prevention issue. Regardless of a

person's priority needs, st`tus or local connection, no one should be

forced to the streets where measures are still available. A single woman

living on the streets should not be there, as much as a young f`mily

should not be, and with the appropriate backing, it is right

that our local government sdes the need and duty to prevent falilies or

individuals being forced to live on our streets. I am hopeful that our

local authorities will be ghven the necessary funds to ensure this

legislation works, and we achieve the results everybody wishes for.

But of course, it should also be the case of, you need me to help... You

need to help me for me to hdlp you. It is crucial for this legislation

that households take their own steps and initiatives to resolve

homelessness. At the end of the day, it will be on most people's

interests to get themselves off the streets and back into a homd that

offers warmth, shelter and ` place very family can flourish. The

incentives are there, and the cultural barriers within hotseholds

stopping them from seeking help must come down too. Mr Deputy Spdaker, we

are all aware of the introdtction of similar legislation in Scotland and

Wales. It is impressive to see the scheme in Wales already providing

positive results in just its first year. 65% of households applying for

prevention assistance had a successful outcome, and I al hopeful

that this statistic will rise at the end of its second year and beyond.

Through this legislation, wd get to the stage where we are sharhng best

practices both locally and nationally, and across all regions

of the United Kingdom. To conclude, I believe that in a civilisdd

society, it is unacceptable that people should be faced with the fear

of homelessness. It is more vitally important to help the most

vulnerable in society to get their lives back on track before ht is too

late or the damage is done. This is an important bill that refldct a

compassionate society we all hold dear, and I commend my honotrable

friend from bringing in full with today, and fully support hil in his

endeavour. It is a pleasure to follow the

honourable lady, particularly in her comments about what are in ly view,

the most impressive group working and producing practical restlts I

had the experience of visithng them, and uniquely, they insisted that

visiting MPs to wash their dishes after the modest meal we had, but it

was a symbol of the democratic nature of them will stop we, as MPs,

were on the same level as the homeless level there were pdople in

the house. It is a splendid institution. To the honourable

gentleman, he deserves our full congratulation on this bill, and can

I urge everyone else to follow his advice to keep it simple and not to

adorn it with amendments? I was having experience of going through

on the third reading of a bdll I have, and the late Alan Clark, and

the late Eric Ford made spedches in support of it, and then I rdalised,

to my horror, than either of them actually understood the bill, the

only way of getting it throtgh was to make a 13 second third rdading

speech in case they understood the details and sabotaged the bhll. So

specificity is a way of getting things through in this housd. The

Welsh government, to their credit, have put this measure forward, and

again, it is the best of legislation, because it is not

overambitious. It does not `ttempt to change too much, and as we know,

the problems of mental health are to do with -- the problems of

homelessness are often to do with homelessness, mental health, and

drug addiction, and there is not any simple solution. But they brought

the bill in modestly, and it has been very successful. Can I commend

another measure they took on consent for organ donations, having had a

constituent visit me about three years ago, waiting for a he`rt

transplant, a 19-year-old boy, and then, because there was a shortage

of donors, six months later, I attended his funeral. We should

again look at what is happening on Wales with presumed consent, and

follow that example as well. -- happening in Wales. About this bill,

I have got my speech here, which I shall not burden you with, but to

say one word to my friends on this site, I think a simplistic solution

to this is to say that the Labour Party should end the sale of council

houses, and it is a very controversial issue, but can I

commend the work of the latd David Taylor, who was a council and

Leicestershire council -- on Leicestershire council. He was a

real model. You should read his book and find out.

Well, don't bother buying it, come and see me! It is rather expensive.

I mean, those who remember David, and the sad circumstances of his

death, he was killed, I belheve by press criticism, which destroyed

him, because he was a great Christian gentleman, who was

undermined by an attack on him. He drops dead a fortnight later. But

one thing I should mention, he was on the council, before he bdcame an

MP, and he and the council did the same thing. Long before Thatcher

sold council houses, we dechded for good socialist reasons, to sell

council houses, because it hs not property that is that in today's's

housing world, it is rate that is theft, and we could not continue in

good conscience in giving the people who support us so well, the council

house tenants, to deny them the chance of acquiring and appreciating

asset. So I say, we must not take that road. There are other ways of

tackling the problem, but yds, this bill is a fine bill, and it is

wonderful to see a progresshve, highly intelligent and practical

politician following the ex`mple of socialists in Wales.

It is a pleasure to follow the honourable member. I will s`y,

obviously, everyone has paid great tributes for this bill and H am

proud to be a cross-party sponsor of this bill. Several weeks ago, our

Prime Minister took to the stated party conference to deliver her for

Britain, a country where, for every single person, regardless of

background or that of their parents, has a chance to be all they want to

be, where government stands up for the week and to the strong. So you

might forgive Henry for his scepticism. At the age of 22, Henry

found himself on the streets after suffering a physical abuse, after

being thrown out of his homd by his father who refused to accept he was

gay. Vulnerable and in despdrate need of help, Henry turned to his

local London Borough, repeatedly waiting for hours and packed

reception is only to be repdatedly told that there was nothing that

could be done. That he was not a priority. And certainly not a

statutory priority. So effectively, in his mind, you did not matter For

those like Henry, it is for those we stand up for today, for the weak,

and ensuring that at the very least, we have a statute, a duty to prevent

those like Henry of going through the cycle of despair without a home.

There have been many good speech is already today, no doubt somd to come

that will increasingly be gdtting towards the time that is nedded to

see this bill safely on its passage, but they will not necessarily bridge

the gap in credibility that many like Henry would see as thex gaze

across at this fine building, and many across the Thames, those facing

another night on the streets. It is, as I said, a scandal that wd too

readily have tolerated that in 016, this country is facing an increasing

number of those people who dnd up homeless. What is also the case is

that it is a preventable sc`ndal, and today we can do something about

it by supporting this bill. The point of this bill is to ensure that

the causes of homelessness `re tackled as much as possible before

the crisis of being without a home is reached.

It means empowering councils and other agencies. Sadly in thd front

seat is family relationship break down which for six out of tdn young

people are centre point report this week highlights. Six out of ten

young people a family relathonship break down will be the main cause of

homeless. This bill will provide that duty of prevention. Thd burden

will fall on local authorithes, but the responsibility is a shared one,

particularly coming to the costs of youth homelessness is hit bx central

government budgets. That is why I welcome the Government support. The

government are picking up already the costs and need to be involved in

investing in the prevention. Centre point's report highlights the main

cost of youth homelessness `lone, taking account of on the of costs of

offending or poor mental he`lth or lack of training and domesthc

violence, if one slices off the cost of being homeless it falls on the

welfare budget. For a young person that is ?9,000 a year. That is 560

million a year just in terms of homelessness costs. The Govdrnment's

?40 million announcement is welcome, but it does put it into context of

what is needed to be able to shift the focus on prevention and makes so

much sense both in value for money and in the social benefits. The

issue of homelessness is colplex, it is complex because it is involving a

predominantly individuals whth multiple and complex needs, those as

we will know from the work of St Mungo's, in supported accomlodation,

they have accommodation of 0,03 people who have slept rough. Three

quarters have mental problel. 6 % have drug or alcohol problels. We

therefore need to deal with things in the round and make sure that all

agencies of Government, centrally as well as locally, are focussdd on

seeking to prevent homelessness The reality is that the expectation the

life expectation for someond who is homeless is somebody of my `ge would

no longer live. At 47 that would be it. That is appalling for us to

comprehend and we must be able to shift that. As has been said by the

member for Sheffield, I will just carry on so others carry on. There

are good examples of good practice. In many area there are thosd working

hard. But there are too manx examples of bad practice in local

authorities. My constituencx have had examples of shoddy practice that

dehumanise people as they sdek help. This bill seek to ensure thdre is a

level playing field for those who don't see that who are homeless We

need to ensure st good practices that is there, that has been

highlighted of mediation and multifamily approaches and that

needs to spread throughout our land. And make sure it has an imp`ct on

the most vulnerable. But for a London area like mine, all too

frequently I have scene thex can be in denial about the real nulbers of

homeless, hidden homeless and real homeless and they can aquay yes to

seeing those at risk gravit`te to central London hostels and the

scheme of no second night ott and they can effectively sit on their

hands while others pick up the bill. This will help to change th`t to

ensure there is co-operation and duty of prevention. I will need to

make... Progress. We need to do what we can. I am disappointed btt not

surprised that my area, Enfheld and other London councils in thd North

London partnership have sent around a criticism of this bill saxing is

it is unworkable in London `nd will increase homeless. I think hs that

huge shame. They say it will detract from the the homelessness prevention

that takes play. I think thdy're are denial aye disagree. They nded the

funds and support and we nedd to support those who don't havd family

with local connections, but I will tell my council and others what is

unworkable is what Crisis rdported that 50 out of 87 visits of Miz

trishopers -- Miz trishoppers, they show that 50 out of 87 visits what

was offered was insufficient. And they report a lack of private

interview rooms, akin to public humiliation. The poverty-related

shame. The stigma that was reinforced by what they recdived by

local authorities. That must end. That is what is unworkable. It is

unworkable that many were jtst dismissed with a selection of

leaflets this they were unable to understand or decipher. That is the

unacceptable as is the rising level of homelessness. We must ensure we

don't just let people fall back on the priority need and sitting on our

hands and we deliver more comprehensive duty and the safety

act of the housing Act is aged and it is failing and unworkabld for the

homeless and we need to get on and back this bill. Mike Gates. Last

night I attend an event org`nised by the citizen's organisation for east

London. They're working to dstablish a community land trust. This was

hosted by the Salvation Armx, who in a few weeks will open a night

shelter in my constituency which they do every winter and I have to

say two thirds of those people who say two thirds of those people who

stay in that night shelter will not be affected by this bill, bdcause

they have no recourse to public funds. Thousands of people on the

streets who are sleeping rotgh who, because they don't have EU treaty

rights or for other reasons, they have no recourse to public funds and

that problem will continue regardless of what this bill does.

Yes, I give way. Isn't it true if we are going to deal with stredt

homelessness, which many people think we are talking about when we

talk about homelessness, it require a lot more money to deal with the

complex needs those people have Yes I'm coming on to that questhon. The

member for Enfield made an tnfair attack on his local authority. He

said that the staff were were not doing their job properly, hd implied

that somehow it is the fault of council and the council staff that

people don't get services. H have to say I am concerned when I rdad the

report of the association of housing advise services which brings

together people in local authorities, all over London, who

have calculated that the extension of the homelessness preventhon duty

to single non-I vulnerable people will lead to an additional cost of

over ?100 million. 40 million from the Government is peanuts compared

with London alone having additional costs. I in an intervention on the

member who sponsored the bill pointed out my council red bridge

has said that it will cost them ?5 million. Red bridge an area

suffering a major homelessndss problem. We have a situation in my

area where we have 278,000 people, 64% of households own their own

home, 11%, only 11%, live in social housing and 25% rent privatdly.

Systemically in the last three years, large numbers of private

tenants have been evicted from their homes in Red bridge, becausd of

benefits changes and becausd of people being... Pushing out

landlords pushing people out so they can get higher rents. Every day I

have people contacting me from hotels in Bath Road, Hounslow, who

have been placed there by mx local authority, because they can't find

any accommodation, any accolmodation in the Red Bridge. My counchl outbid

Kent County Council for ex-`rmy accommodation in cant bri. H --

Canterbury. The reason that happened was because you cannot get people to

move out of the hostels in red Bridge, because they're blocked

because there is nowhere to go. And we face an ongoing crisis, this Bill

unfortunately is a classic piece of wishful thinking. It's gesttre

politics of the worst kind. You have the ends, but you don't provide the

means. You make yourself fedl good, because you vote for somethhng,

because it sounds good. It says homelessness reduction. It should

not be called homelessness reduction. It should be called

homelessness recognition bill. Because this bill will not provide

any additional social housing in my constituency. It won't provhde any

additional good quality private rented accommodation in my

constituency. It won't provhde any extra money for my local authority

to off set the additional ?4 million they estimate will be necessary

because of bureaucratic reqtirements and the staff requirements that they

will have from this bill. I could go on at length. I'm tempted to go on

after the attitude of mover who seems to say take it or leave it and

don't amend it. There are issues with the bill. L. It has

implications in area that whll lead to costs and processing. I just

concentrate on one or two of them. The proposal to give a duty and to

change the definitions of homelessness does not give ts any

extra temporary accommodation. You cannot deal with these problems

simply by shuffling it around so that women with children ard not

able to get the accommodation in the area, because somebody who hs single

homeless has had it instead. That simply means more potentially more

people developing out -- gohng out of area and there are legal

judgments about the definithons of what local authorities can do when

they send people out of are`. We have a major crisis in houshng in

London generally and certainly in east London at this moment. This

bill does not deal with that. There is this entirely new accommodation

duty to provide people with accommodation for a maximum period

fixed of 56 days if they have got nowhere safe to stay. And that

supposedly is going to solvd the problem. But it doesn't really. It

just simply shuffles the crhteria around. We have in the bill

various... No, all right I will take. Of course. I'm very tdmpted to

allow the member to continud, but the reality is I think the

honourable gentleman is looking at the original draft bill rather than

the bill that is presented today. The 56 days emergency accomlodation

was removed at the request of the CLG select committee, because of

resource requirements and bdcause London authorities in particular

said that it would be unworkable and cost too much. I trust that he will

understand that has been reloved and probably removes the principal

objection heys to the bill. I'm grateful for the intervention and I

look forward to seeing the final version of the bill after it's

come... After it's come out of committee. I accept that he has made

some late changes to it. Whhch were mainly because the CLG commhttee

came up with the proposals by the member for Sheffield.

in and on to this bill is about the objections and the requiremdnts to

the costs, which will be considerable and my borough and many

other borrowers in London. -- other borrowers in London.

Redbridge council has calculated that there will be between 3.2 and

4.3 million additional accolmodation costs, and that there were staffing

costs of 600 and the ?3000, according to Redbridge Counsel, just

for one borough. And that a time when we have faced ?70 millhon in

central government cuts in three years in my local authority, when we

are cutting services and we are restructuring and reorganishng, and

we are down to the bare-bonds, this is potentially a significant

additional burden at a time when we know that councils all over the

country face and Autumn Statement, potentially, that is not gohng to be

very friendly towards them. There is, of course, an argument that we

should just pass the bill today and hope for the best. I have to say, I

look forward and Willis and with great interest to what the linister

says -- will listen with grdat interest, to what the minister says

in his summing up, because he needs to reassure me, but not just me He

leads to reassure Labour and Conservative and Liberal Delocrat

and ratepayer council -- cotncil is all over the country that these

measures are going to be fully funded, not just for one ye`r, not

for two years, not for some transitional period, but re`lly

funded, and he specifically needs to take account of the needs of London.

There is a massive homelessness crisis in London, and the alcohol

services, the mental health services, and the provision for

dealing with rough sleepers who have no recourse to public funds must be

looked at, because they are a blight on our society because of their

failure to deal with those hssues properly. This bill does not deal

with that issue, and that is why I am raising my concerns todax.

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. I am very pleased to be standing here

today in support of and as ` sponsor of the Homelessness Reduction Bill,

as this is an issue that I have pushed since I was first eldcted

here. As a new member, I was elected to the Communities And Local

Government Select Committee, one of our first tasks was to outlhne

enquiries to be looked at. Ly work with homelessness charities in my

constituency of Northampton and my experience as a former local

authority leader made it cldar to me that not enough was being done to

tackle the issue of homelessness. So I pushed for the select comlittee to

undertake an enquiry into homelessness. This was widely

supported by select committde members, and the enquiry ran from

last December until July. Along with one member, I then set up the All

Party Parliamentary Group on Iran in homelessness in March this xear

That member, Mr Deputy Speaker, was of course Jo Cox, the former member

for Batley and Spen. I would like to take this opportunity to pax my own

tribute to her. She championed the issue of ending homelessness, and

energetic approach to probldm solving and reaching out across the

house has been well-documented. But I know, if she were here, that Jo

would be in this chamber today and supporting this bill, and I know

that Jo would be pleased th`t the issue of homelessness has bden

pushed up the political agenda during this Parliament, and it

speaks volumes that so many colleagues from across the house

have given up a valuable dax in their constituencies to be here in

Parliament for this important bill. I'd like to take this opportunity to

congratulate my honourable friend for Harrow East were bringing this

bill before the house. I know how much work he has put into it, and to

secure cross-party support, and most significantly, the support of the

government. Indeed, I'm verx pleased the government has announced support

for this bill, and I welcomd the measures and additional funding they

are putting in place to tackle homelessness. I think this shows

that the government is indedd taking the issue seriously, and is

committed to supporting the most vulnerable in our society. H'm

especially grateful to the lember for Nuneaton for his help and

patience on this issue, bec`use I have talked to him at length for

many months on it. May I also take this opportunity to thank charities

and organisations from across the homelessness sector for thehr

support in the process. Thex have provided invaluable knowledge and

expertise which has been vital to the select committee, the group

finding homelessness, and Bhlly are debating here today. I would also

like to thank the staff at Prices for their support, and my own office

staff. I find it disturbing that in the UK in the 21st century, support

for homeless people and those at risk of becoming homeless c`n be

silicon system from area to area, and 70 people continue to f`ll

through the net. -- can be so inconsistent. It is my hope that the

provisions laid out in this bill not only result in positive changes to

support structures and local councils and other public bodies,

but also lead to a cultural change in the way that all public bodies

view homeless people and thdir role in its prevention. The meastres in

this bill am not, of course, be an issue for local authorities, who

already provide support that is suitable or goes above and beyond in

the help that they get. But it will be a positive step forward to

improve standards in other authorities who have fallen behind,

and we have had far too manx examples of local authoritids who

hide behind the current law and force people into hardship `nd

circumstances that none of ts would want to see. I'm sure we have all

heard shocking stories of pdople being forced to sleep rough before

they could access help from the local council, or instances where

people have been made to make their own situation intolerably worse

before they were eligible for help which, if they were provided

earlier, would have presentdd them -- prevented them from having to

sleep rough altogether. Loc`l authorities already do a huge amount

to believe homelessness for vulnerable people, but this must be

extended to help single vulnerable people, and our failure to have

adequate positions there were provisions in this place to help

these people, some of whom have mental health problems, is something

we need to look out. The catses for individuals and families to become

homeless are complex, including relationship breakdowns, substance

abuse, mental illness, lack of suitable housing, or believhng of

care of the Armed Forces. F`ctors are often not unique, and the

individual circumstances ard different rage case. This mdans that

those who are ready in touch with one if not more public bodids, beer

the NHS, the local council or a branch of the Armed Forces. It also

means there is significant potential for preventative intervention at an

early stage. Something I have repeatedly heard when talking to

health care professionals, lental health workers and even offhcers

concerned with the welfare of service personnel leaving otr Armed

Forces is that when they iddntify and at risk individual and `ttempt

to intervene, they are often frustrated by the lack of hdlp they