Government must urgently appoint a new homelessness minister
The government must appoint a new homelessness minister (Alamy)
4 min read
The government has a historic opportunity to turn the tide on the housing crisis. It must start by appointing a new homelessness minister.
Labour came into office with the promise of putting Britain “back on track to ending homelessness” in its manifesto.
While there have been some promising initial steps, Parliament is now due to return from summer recess with record numbers of households in temporary accommodation and without a homelessness minister in post.
As co-chairs of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Ending Homelessness, we urge the government to fill this vacancy urgently and push on with delivering an effective strategy for ending homelessness over the next 10 years.
It’s been three weeks since Rushanara Ali’s resignation. Since then, many more people will have joined the thousands already having to live on the streets or in poor quality temporary accommodation that damages their health.
The latest figures show there are almost 170,000 children living in temporary accommodation in England – the highest number on record and enough to fill over 6,500 classrooms.
This housing is often mouldy and overcrowded. Shockingly, there is evidence that poor-quality temporary accommodation has contributed to the deaths of 74 children over the past five years.
Despite these alarming statistics, a chronic shortage of affordable homes means councils must continue housing people in temporary accommodation – costing £2.3bn a year in England. This is wrong, and we need a homelessness minister to get a grip on the crisis.
Our forthcoming APPG report shows how homelessness can be ended by rapidly rehousing people, improving support for those most in need, and focusing on prevention. An ambitious homelessness minister is critical for this.
The government's recent commitment of £39bn for social and affordable homes, with the aim of 60 per cent for social rent, has the potential to be transformative. However, record levels of homelessness demonstrate that a new minister is needed to ensure that people in desperate need can move into them as quickly as possible. It is also vital that the government specifies the number of homes to be built and how they’ll be delivered, ensuring they are safe and meet people’s needs.
A new minister could also drive coordinated action in ending homelessness from across departments. The government’s manifesto pledge of a new strategy for ending homelessness was significant by recognising that several departments have a role to play, not just housing.
We’ve heard from Crisis how people leaving services like hospitals were forced onto the streets with nowhere to go. However, we are still waiting for this strategy to be published. We need a new homelessness minister to ensure it is delivered urgently and that relevant departments play their role in preventing homelessness, including health, justice, welfare and the Treasury.
An ambitious homelessness minister would ensure that the Treasury takes the urgent action needed to prevent homelessness in the upcoming Autumn Budget – by restoring housing benefit to reflect the true cost of rent.
Housing benefit is supposed to cover the bottom 30 per cent of local rents. However, new data from Zoopla shows that just 2.5 per cent of private properties in England are affordable for people receiving housing benefit – down from 12 per cent in 2021-22. The decision to freeze this benefit on 1 April represented a real-terms cut in support for people on low incomes.
Reversing this would stop people on low incomes from being forced out of their homes, while the government’s proposals for new affordable housing should help to reduce market rents, decreasing the overall amount spent on housing benefit in future.
Homelessness drives poor health and difficulty maintaining employment. A report from the charity Pathway found that one in five under-35s experiencing homelessness showed signs of frailty – typically seen in over-65s. Inaction risks trapping more young people in a cycle of poverty and instability. On the other hand, stable homes lay the foundation for a healthier, stronger and more productive society, allowing the government to achieve its other missions for growth, health and education.
Politicians from across the House want to see the government turn the tide on the current crisis. It can start by immediately appointing an ambitious new homelessness minister and giving them the power to drive a strategy that ends homelessness for good.
Paula Barker is Labour MP for Liverpool Wavertree and Bob Blackman is Conservative MP for Harrow East. They co-chair the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Ending Homelessness.
