Local Councils Tackling Coronavirus To Protect The Homeless
Councils are stepping up to help rough sleepers and enforce a new duty of care on Houses of Multiple Occupation (HMO) landlords to ensure tenants can satisfactorily self-isolate.
The emergency COVID-19 Bill before Parliament today (23rd March) provides for significant fines for non-compliance and/or the revocation of HMO licences, reports 24Housing. The Local Government Association (LGA) says that as the COVID-19 crisis continues councils will need to “re-prioritise” certain public services, with the Bill also pitching councils the power to relax adult social care duties under the Care Act in their areas – a power usually reserved to the Secretary of State.
Cllr Ian Hudspeth, chairman of the LGA’s Community Wellbeing Board, said: “Councils are stepping up to play their role in supporting the national effort to tackle the Coronavirus. Acting as a fourth emergency service, local government is prioritising the most vulnerable to ensure they have the support they need.”
“This is essential work in the nation’s interests, councils will step-up, but this emergency will stretch them and their teams to the maximum as it will all public services. Additional powers should be added to the legislation to further support councils in their efforts to tackle this emergency,” added Cllr Hudspeth.
At the same time, Greater Manchester Metro Mayor Andy Burnham called on Government to release funding to councils “with immediate effect” so they can pay for accommodation for anyone sleeping rough.
“No person should be forced to sleep on the streets of Britain at any time but certainly not now,” said Burnham. “This must be an extremely worrying time for anyone who is homeless, they are not able to access or follow the Government’s advice in the same way as others and need to be helped to do so,” he said.
Despite Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick being alongside Boris Johnson at yesterday’s COVID-19 briefing (March 22), the issue of help for the homeless was not raised.
“In Greater Manchester, the number of people sleeping rough is reducing but, at the last count, there are still over a hundred people out there. Across the country, thousands of people are still sleeping rough – they need to be supported as a matter of urgency both for their own good and to limit the spread of the virus,” said Burnham.
“Government needs to say, at the daily briefing, that they are requiring local authorities to house all people sleeping rough and that this will be fully funded,” he said.
