debates/debates2025-04-07a conversation_4
Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-07)

UK Parliament Hansard data: debates/debates2025-04-07a conversation_4

Lee Pitcher:What steps her Department is taking to support people sleeping rough in colder months. \p Rushanara Ali: This Government have increased funding for homelessness services by £233 million, to a total of nearly £1 billion for 2025-26. The Government have also provided £60 million of additional emergency winter pressures funding to support people sleeping rough during the colder months. \p Uma Kumaran: According to media reports, Conservative shadow Ministers met representatives of the Get Living property group, which manages thousands of properties  in my constituency. In the meeting, they discussed how to stop the Renters’ Rights Bill, in their words, “dead in its tracks.” After years of promising to ban no-fault evictions, the Tory Government failed to deliver. Now they are colluding with the property industry to keep no-fault evictions in place. Will this Labour Government do the right thing and ban no-fault evictions for good? \p Rushanara Ali: The Government remain committed to abolishing section 21 no-fault evictions for both new and existing tenancies as soon as possible. We will ensure that the sector has adequate notice of the system taking effect, and we will work closely with stakeholders to enable a smooth transition. \p Lee Pitcher: I recently took part in an organised sleep-out event at Doncaster’s Eco-Power stadium. The event was set up by the Club Doncaster Foundation to raise money for projects supporting homeless people. Such fundraisers, and the work done by charities like Shelter and Doncaster’s People Focused Group, are vital, but it is ultimately up to the Government to solve the problem of homelessness. Can the Minister update us on what the Government are doing to fulfil the need for social housing? \p Rushanara Ali: Since taking office, we have made £800 million of new funding available to deliver 7,800 new social and affordable homes. From 2026-27, we are injecting £2 billion to build up to 18,000 more homes by the end of this Parliament. We will announce additional funding for next year and beyond at the spending review. \p Ben Maguire: Cornwall faces a homelessness crisis, with 22,000 families on the housing waiting list. Following a meeting last week with the Minister for Housing and Planning, I propose an Airbnb Bill that will require second home owners formally to seek planning permission for any change of use of their properties. There is an easy loophole that allows property owners to avoid paying council tax altogether by passing off a home as a short-term holiday let. Will the Minister please confirm that she will give this proposal due consideration, and will she visit Cornwall to discuss this further? \p Rushanara Ali: The hon. Gentleman raises an important point. Our priority is to make sure that we tackle the root causes of the housing shortage and homelessness. That is why we are building 1.5 million homes and investing record amounts in housing and tackling homelessness, including £1 billion for the next year. \p Bob Blackman: Since the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017 was passed, local authorities have prevented 1.4 million people from becoming homeless. However, there is still evidence of local authorities refusing to plan to prevent people becoming homeless. Will the Minister take up the private Member’s Bill that I championed the other week, and that was given an unopposed Second Reading, so that we put pressure on the people who should provide the housing, and no one in this country is forced to sleep rough? \p Rushanara Ali: The hon. Gentleman has done a great deal of cross-party work in support of housing. We have a consultation in place. I am pleased to say that I have  met him on a couple of occasions, and he will be aware that we are working hard and at pace to tackle the underlying challenges. There are 164,000 children in temporary accommodation, and rough sleeping has gone up by 164% since 2010. We are determined to take action to deal with the challenges, but that will require concerted work. The Deputy Prime Minister is leading the interdepartmental taskforce on homelessness. I look forward to continuing to work with the hon. Member for Harrow East (Bob Blackman). \p Lindsay Hoyle: I call the shadow Minister. \p Paul Holmes: Quite rightly, the Government said in their manifesto that they wanted to reduce homelessness and rough sleeping, but instead there has been a 20% increase in rough sleeping—at its highest in London but rapidly climbing in other parts of England, such as by 67% in Derbyshire. Homeless Link states that the Budget removed £50 million to £60 million from the sector due to national insurance increases and has called for a reset on homelessness funding. Where is the Minister’s long-term plan for reducing homelessness? Will she commit to seeing a fall in homelessness in the next year? \p Rushanara Ali: The shadow Minister should be aware of the record of his Government—a record increase in rough sleeping. Since 2010 it went up by 164%. The previous Labour Government cut rough sleeping by two thirds. We have put in an additional £233 million, taking the total to £1 billion. We have provided additional funding of £60 million to tackle winter pressures. The hon. Gentleman should look at the record of his Government and face up to the fact that over 14 years the Conservative party presided over record increases. We are determined to tackle that, which is what we are doing through our cross-cutting work across Government.