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Homelessness among vulnerable groups being sidelined, says APPG
The government and councils are failing to prevent homelessness among vulnerable groups of people, an all-party parliamentary group (APPG) has said.
The APPG for Ending Homelessness today published a report, funded by Crisis, focusing on preventing homelessness for domestic violence survivors, care leavers and prison leavers.
After hearing from a number of witnesses who have struggled to find accommodation after leaving a care setting, prison or an abusive relationship, the APPG came up with a number of recommendations for government and councils.
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These include:
- The government should set up a cross-departmental strategy led by Number 10 to tackle homelessness
- Care leavers should be given a secure home as part of a wider plan to deal with other issues they may have, such as mental ill health
- Exempting all care leavers from the shared accommodation rate up to the age of 25
- Abolishing the concept of intentional homelessness for care leavers
- The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) should conduct a review into its allocation guidance for councils to stop policies such the local connection requirement being used against care leavers
- DCLG should introduce an England-wide programme for domestic violence victims to allow them to transfer their tenancy to another area
- Councils should accept all domestic violence victims under the local connection criteria of homelessness legislation
- DCLG and the Home Office should jointly fund Housing First schemes for domestic violence survivors
- The Ministry of Justice (MOJ) should hold an inquiry into homelessness among offenders released from prison, the impact of welfare reform on prison leavers and how the local connection criteria is used with prison leavers
The APPG said despite 605 care leavers aged 18-20 being accepted as statutorily homeless in England last year, there is still no requirement to record the number of care leavers who are denied an offer of permanent accommodation because they are deemed to have made themselves homeless.
The group also said care leavers who are accepted as priority need are not given a choice of accommodation options and this can result in them living in “unsafe and unsuitable housing”.
In its inquiry the APPG heard that some councils are applying local connection criteria to domestic violence survivors, even though by law they are meant to be exempt.
The inquiry also found there is a lack of understanding over who is responsible for meeting the housing needs of prison leavers.
The APPG said the MOJ should “take ownership of this problem and investigate the true scale of the homelessness of prison leavers”.
