MPs demand more income for rapid-housing scheme

The All-Party Parliamentary Group for Ending Homelessness has called for more government funding for any scheme to quickly house long-term homeless people in England.

The Housing First programme puts eligible people straight into long-term housing, without which makes them first seek assist in temporary accommodation. The pilots in Greater Manchester, Liverpool City Region and also the West Midlands began in May 2021 once they received £28m in government funding.

MPs on the APPG have required the funding to carry on beyond the coming year, when it is because of finish, seeking £451 million over the next 3 years to grow the scheme. The audience says that places underneath the scheme remain ‘far underneath the scale from the demand’, and still largely concentrated within the pilot areas.

The Housing First scheme works by targeting the offer of long-term housing to individuals with complex needs such as mental health issues, drug dependency or perhaps a history of being abused. Unlike the approach more traditionally utilized by councils, a long-term house is provided to people without conditions attached. The goal would be to give homeless people more stability, with support then offered with an open-ended basis.

Around 2,000 places are available in England, delivered by 90 organisations including charities, with around half funded through government pilots. Research within the APPG report, funded by housing charity Crisis, estimated up to 16,450 Housing First places were needed across England.

The APPG is a cross-party group with nine Labour MPs and peers, seven Conservatives, and something MP each from Plaid Cymru, the Green Party and the Liberal Democrats.