General Election June 8th – So What Will Our New Government Do To Tackle Homelessness

/in /by

You may have noticed that there’s a General Election coming up soon, but what have the major parties promised to do about homelessness?

Those nice people at Homeless Link have produced a summary of the manifesto commitments of the three major parties – Conservative, Labour and the Liberal Democrats – in policy areas relevant to our service users. We have outlined the commitments to homelessness and housing below, but this does not cover all the policies the parties have put forward. For more details, go to www.homeless.org.uk

Conservatives

Homelessness and housing

  • Fully implement the Homelessness Reduction Act
  • Aim to halve rough sleeping over the course of the parliament and eliminate it altogether by 2027
  • Set up a new homelessness reduction taskforce that will focus on prevention and affordable housing
  • Pilot a Housing First approach to tackle rough sleeping
  • We will also improve protections for those who rent, including by looking at how we increase security for good tenants and encouraging landlords to offer longer tenancies as standard
  • Meet the 2015 commitment to deliver a million homes by the end of 2020 and deliver half a million more by the end of 2022
  • Give greater flexibility to housing associations to increase their housing stock

Labour

Homelessness and housing

  • A new national plan to end rough sleeping within the next Parliament and 4,000 additional homes reserved for people with a history of rough sleeping
  • Safeguard homeless hostels and other supported housing from changes to Housing Benefit
  • Build at least 100,000 council and housing association homes a year for genuinely affordable rent or sale by the end of the next Parliament
  • Establish a Department for Housing, overhaul the Homes and Communities Agency and give councils new powers to build the homes local communities need
  • Three-year tenancies the norm, with an inflation cap on rent rises
  • Ban letting agency fees for tenants and give renters new consumer rights
  • New legal minimum standards to ensure properties are ‘fit for human habitation’ and empower tenants to take action if their rented homes are sub-standard
  • Reverse ban on long-term council tenancies to give council tenants security in their homes

Liberal Democrats

Housing and homelessness

  • Increase support for homelessness prevention and fund age-appropriate emergency accommodation and supported housing
  • All local authorities to have at least one provider of the Housing First model of provision
  • Housebuilding target of 300,000 homes a year, ensuring half a million affordable, energy-efficient homes by the end of the parliament
  • Ban lettings fees for tenants, cap upfront deposits and increase minimum standards in rented homes
  • Establishing a new Help to Rent scheme to provide government-backed tenancy deposit loans for all first-time renters under 30
  • Promote longer tenancies of three years or more with an inflation-linked annual rent increase built in, to give tenants security and limit rent hikes.
  • Improve protections against rogue landlords through mandatory licensing and allow access for tenants to the database of rogue landlords and property agents
  • Promote tenant management in social housing

There is loads more information on their website, so go to www.homeless.org.uk

Homeless Link is the national membership charity for organisations working directly with people who become homeless or live with multiple and complex support needs. We work to improve services and campaign for policy change that will help end homelessness.