Select Committee on Office of the Deputy Prime Minister: Housing, Planning, Local Government and the Regions Third Report


1  Introduction

A home for all?

1. The United Nations International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights establishes the right of every person to have "an adequate standard of living, including adequate food, clothing and housing". It is our view that there should not be homeless people in the UK in 2004. A home is a fundamental right which should not be denied to anyone living in as affluent and ambitious a society as our own. The Government has set targets to reduce the levels of homelessness. Mr Tarig Hilal of Crisis, one of the largest homelessness charities, told us "we live in ambitious times and we live in times when we want to end child poverty and there is no reason why we cannot at the same time want to end homelessness".[1] Failure to tackle homelessness seriously undermines the Government's other social objectives, for example in health care, education, employment, poverty, and social inclusion. We believe the Government should treat homelessness as seriously as that of child poverty, and aim to eradicate it entirely.

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

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 homelessness—the 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


 
previous page contents next page

House of Commons home page Parliament home page House of Lords home page search page enquiries index

© Parliamentary copyright 2005
Prepared 27 January 2005