No new money for homelessness strategy, minister admits

There is no new money behind the Government's flagship £100 million fund to eradicate rough sleeping within the decade, Housing Secretary James Brokenshire has admitted.

The fund was welcomed by homelessness charities as a significant step towards helping the estimated 4,751 people sleeping rough on English streets on any given night.

But under questioning on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Mr Brokenshire said half the cash had already been committed to rough sleeping and the other half was "reprioritised" from existing budgets in his department.

He said: "Yes, some of this is reprioritised... reprioritised from within existing budgets where we have underspends and issues such as that.

"There are significant sums of money being focused and targeted.

"Half of that has already been committed to homelessness and rough sleeping.

"The other remaining half of this is money that's new to rough sleeping and homelessness, reflecting and recognising the priorities and importance of taxes."

Mr Brokenshire denied Government policies were behind a rise in homelessness, as identified by independent organisations such as the National Audit Office.

However, the minister did appear to commit to reviewing the impact of welfare policies, such as the Universal Credit system, on homelessness.

"I'm not going to be sitting here blindly ignoring further evidence that comes to sight," he said.

"The strategy today includes a new commitment for the DWP (Department for Work and Pensions) and my department to look at the way new policy may impact on homelessness.

"We're looking at new modelling and analysis to better inform further changes we may make in the future around welfare and around other legislation so we're getting the best information we possibly can."

Shelter chief executive Polly Neate had welcomed the strategy with the caveat more must be done to tackle issues around housing benefit and lack of housing.

She said: "This strategy is an important step forward in the fight against the rough sleeping emergency that's led to people dying on our streets.

"But let's be clear, this is a step forward and not a total fix for homelessness.

"We still need to tackle the chronic lack of genuinely affordable homes, deep instability of renting, and problems with housing benefit that are leaving so many without a home.

"If the Government wants to eradicate rough sleeping for good, this strategy must be quickly followed by a new plan to build many more social homes and efforts to create real security for those struggling with their rent."

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