Thangam Debbonaire – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Thangam Debbonaire on 2016-07-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to improve access to the private rented sector for single people who are homeless.

Gavin Barwell

One person without a home is one too many and we are committed to do all we can to prevent homelessness.

Increasing access to the private rented sector is one of the many ways we are trying to achieve this. We have already made a significant investment of nearly £14 million for Crisis to develop a programme to help single homeless people access private rented sector accommodation. This has helped over 10,000 people, with over 90% maintaining tenancies for at least 6 months.

In Budget 2016, we also announced a £10 million fund to support and scale-up initiatives to prevent and reduce rough sleeping and a £10 million Social Impact Bond to support the most entrenched rough sleepers off the streets.

In addition, we are working to increase supply, and therefore affordability, in the private rented sector by accelerating the development of a new market for private renters, including our £1 billion build to rent fund and the £3.5 billion private rented sector debt guarantee scheme.