PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Homelessness: Migrants (1 June 2020)

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, from which budgets will funding be allocated to meet the (a) immediate and (b) long-term needs of people accommodated through the Everyone In programme and who have no recourse to public funds.

Asked by:
James Murray (Labour)

The Government is aware of concerns about those with no recourse to public funds experiencing homelessness during the Covid-19 emergency.

We are ensuring local authorities are supported, with £3.2 million in targeted funding to help support individuals who are sleeping rough off the streets, and an additional £3.2 billion provided to local authorities as part of the wider government response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

This funding has been provided to help local authorities to reduce risks to public health and to support individuals on the basis of need.

The legal position on those with no recourse to public funds has not been amended.

The Government recognises that these are unprecedented times, and expects local authorities to support people who are sleeping rough, and also to minimise unnecessary risks to public health, acting within the law.

While local authorities continue to provide accommodation to those that need it, it is only responsible that we work with partners to consider how best to support the rough sleepers who have been moved into accommodation once the immediate emergency has been resolved.

Answered by:
Luke Hall (Conservative)
4 June 2020