Written question asked by Bishop of St Albans (Bishops (affiliation)) on Monday, 23 February 2015, in the House of Lords. It was due for an answer on Monday, 9 March 2015. It was answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon (Conservative) on Monday, 2 March 2015 on behalf of the Department for Communities and Local Government.

Homelessness

Question: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to review their policies and resources which support relationships, in the light of recent research by Ipsos Mori on behalf of the Salvation Army which suggests that relationship breakdown is the most common cause of homelessness.

Answer: This Government has increased spending to prevent homelessness, making over £500 million available to help the most vulnerable in society and have kept strong protections to guard families against the threat of homelessness. As part of this funding we have maintained investment in local authority homelessness prevention services, providing £320 million since 2010/11 which has helped local authorities to prevent over 730,000 cases of homelessness. Almost 38,000 of these were helped to stay in their home through mediation and conciliation schemes.

Secondary information