Background
2. The Homelessness Act was passed in 2002. It was
a major piece of legislation which aims to promote joined-up thinking
by placing an obligation on local authorities to devise homelessness
strategies. At the same time as the Act came into force, the Government
expanded the list of those categorised by local authorities as
in "priority need" of housing, to include more people
who have become homeless through no fault of their own, and have
specific needs which mean they are more likely to be vulnerable
as a result. By extending the priority needs groups, the Government
created a statutory duty for local authorities to secure accommodation
for them.
3. In 1998 the Prime Minister launched the Rough
Sleepers Initiative, which was designed to reduce the number of
those sleeping on the streets by two thirds by 2002: in 2001,
the Government announced this target had been achieved. In March
2002 the Homelessness and Housing Support Directorate at the ODPM
announced a Bed and Breakfast (B&B) programme, to remove families
with children from temporary accommodation in B&Bs for more
than six weeks. By March 2004, almost every local authority in
England had complied.
4. These measures reflect a recognition dating from
the early 1990s that the number of homeless people had reached
unacceptable levels. Yet, despite positive results with target
groups, the number of those accepted by local authorities as homeless
has risen again to levels comparable with those which triggered
such measures. In addition, there is a widespread belief among
those working in the sector that these figures only represent
part of the problem.
5. The OPDM has a Public Service Agreement (PSA5)
on Housing, which was amended by the 2004 Spending Review. The
technical note states
"our policies aim to reverse the current
upward trend in this indicator [Numbers of statutory homeless
families with children in temporary accommodation] by 2007 and
reduce the numbers of homeless households with children in temporary
accommodation by over 30,000 in comparison with current levels
by 2016".[2]
Such a reduction would merely bring numbers back
in line with 1997 levels. We felt that these targets are not ambitious
enough, and that homelessness will still remain unacceptably high
even if the targets are met.
6. We decided to examine how effective the 2002 legislation
has been and what barriers remain to reducing the number of homeless
people. We announced our inquiry on 2 July 2004. The terms of
reference were to consider:
a) the overall level and the nature of need for
housing for homeless people;
b) the success of policies meeting the needs
of homeless households, in particular:
i. families,
ii. single people, and
iii. those who are intentionally homeless;
c) the adequacy of investment in housing for
homeless people and the quality of accommodation available for
them;
d) factors affecting the successful implementation
of the Homelessness Act 2002;
e) the location of provision for homeless people
relative to where they live;
f) the balance of public investment in housing
for key workers and homeless people;
g) priority for the homeless within the overall
allocation of social housing;
h) whether the non-housing services provided
for homeless people are adequate and are coordinated with housing
provision; and
i) whether public agencies are effective in preventing
people becoming homelessness.
7. We received sixty eight written submissions and
held four evidence sessions, in the course of which we heard from
five ministers. We made two visits: one to Birmingham, where we
met representatives of the City Council and local voluntary organisations,
and one to the site of the Crisis Urban Village project in East
London. We would like to thank our two specialist advisers, Professor
Steve Hilditch and Mr Bob Blackaby, for their expertise and assistance,
and all those organisations and individuals who made written submissions
or gave oral evidence to this inquiry.
LEGISLATIVE BACKGROUND
8. Local authorities were first given responsibility
for providing accommodation to people who were homeless under
the National Assistance Act 1948. That Act obliged local authorities
to provide temporary accommodation for 'persons who are in urgent
need thereof'.[3] Accommodation
was often extremely poor and was often only provided for women
and children, with husbands excluded and families separated. Homeless
families were normally not given any specific priority for social
housing. At that time the issue was seen more as one of social
welfare provision, rather than housing. However, in 1974 the former
Department of the Environment issued a circular, which said that
local authorities should transfer responsibility for assisting
homeless people from social services to housing departments.[4]
9. A full legal duty on housing authorities did not
arise until the implementation of the Housing (Homeless Persons)
Act 1977, which gave housing authorities a duty to secure permanent
accommodation for unintentionally homeless people who had a local
connection in the district and who were in priority need.[5]
(That is, those who had or were expecting children, were homeless
as a result of a fire, flood or other disaster or who were vulnerable
in some way, for example because of old age, illness or disability.)
10. Homelessness legislation was consolidated by
the Housing Act 1985. Subsequently, the definition of homelessness
was widened in the Housing and Planning Act 1986.[6]
Ten years later, following a major review of homelessness, the
Housing Act 1996 reduced the main duty on local authorities for
securing accommodation for homeless people to a period of two
years.[7] After that time,
cases had to be reviewed and permanent housing could then be provided
but not by virtue of homelessnessthe households concerned
had to qualify on some other grounds under the authority's housing
allocations scheme.
11. The 1996 Act removed eligibility for local authority
housing assistance from most people from abroad, including most
asylum seekers. It also gave local authorities a new duty to ensure
that advice and information about homelessness and preventing
homelessness was available.[8]
The Homelessness Act 2002 restored the main duty to secure permanent
accommodation for homeless people in priority need and introduced
a new duty on local authorities to conduct homelessness reviews
in their districts and to formulate and publish a homelessness
strategy.[9]
12. This Report is mainly concerned with the situation
in England. Housing, and therefore homelessness, is a devolved
matter. In Scotland, legislation was passed in 2003 which will
lead to a dramatically different approach to the assessment of,
and services provided to, those presenting as homeless. Although
the Welsh legislation does not differ so greatly, there are growing
divergences of policy and practice between England and Wales.
As part of our inquiry, we have considered what can be drawn from
these models.
1 Q 259 Back
2
PSA 5 Indicators, Targets And Trajectories -Technical Note Back
3
National Assistance Act 1948, part III, section 21 (1) (b) Back
4
Circular 18/74 Back
5
Housing (Homeless Persons) Act 1977, chapter 48, section 4 Back
6
Housing and Planning Act 1986, Part I, section 14 Back
7
Housing Act 1996, part VII, section 207 (1) Back
8
Housing Act 1996, part VII, section 179 (1) Back
9
Homelessness Act 2002, chapter 7, section1 Back