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Social Housing Bill [HL]

My Lords, Amendment 82 is in my name and I support the three other amendments in this group, tabled by my noble friends Lady O’Neill of Bexley and Lord Jamieson. Amendment 82 augments my Committee stage Amendment 94, and I thank MHCLG for two meetings with officials which have helped me refine what I think is needed. Summarising briefly the arguments I made in Committee, which are still all valid, I would say that this amendment does not require local authorities to house ex-prisoners but aims to improve their rehabilitation by prisons and local authorities working better together to prevent post-release homelessness. Releasing prisoners into homelessness, and especially rough sleeping, makes their rehabilitation almost impossible. Unsurprisingly, they will be more than twice as likely to reoffend as those released into settled accommodation.

They are also far more likely to die. In an investigation by the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman into 137 deaths after release over a two-year period, almost one-third of those dying within two weeks had been released homeless. The PPO described homelessness on release as “a considerable issue”. It is also a growing issue. Last year, there was a 28% rise since 2021 in the numbers of deaths within two weeks of release. Greater pressure will shortly come from the 10 monthly tranches of early releases from English and Welsh jails, starting on 2 September 2026, of an estimated 6,000 prisoners. HM Inspectorate of Prisons told the Commons Public Accounts Committee in November 2024 that, at some prisons, the limited housing stock available for those released had been

“overwhelmed by early release schemes”.

The Government are aware of this. Ministry of Justice data shows almost 13,000 people left prison homeless or as rough sleepers in the year to April 2025—a 39% rise from the previous year. Its national plan to end homelessness states that this

“could have been prevented had better coordination and planning been in place”—

hence the timeliness and needfulness of my amendment. It would ramp up accountability on local housing authorities’ compliance with the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017, because some are far better than others, under similar stock pressures, at finding ex-prisoners accommodation. Effective partnerships with prison, probation and other organisations are key to successful operation of the Homelessness Reduction Act’s duty to refer, which should kick in 50 days prior to release.

My amendment would tighten up the existing legal framework, as it is not delivering as it should, and its reporting requirements would reveal how local authorities compare with their statistical neighbours. It would

enable regulations to specify more clearly how and when local housing authorities must respond to referrals. Prisons are also not consistently complying with the duty to refer; hence, regulations would also tighten the process at their end.

My new amendment explicitly refers to the need for effective collaboration between all relevant agencies, for reasons that I will now explain. Given the urgency, I am pleased that there has already been promising news on its direction of travel. First, the new Prime Minister —and I sincerely wish him well—has promised to end rough sleeping. Over half of all “duty to refer” referrals to local housing authorities are from criminal justice agencies, highlighting just how many of those threatened with rough sleeping are prison leavers. I met Andy Burnham when he was Mayor of Greater Manchester and asked if he had ever visited what used to be the city’s notorious HMP Strangeways. He had not, but he mentioned that practically all the men he saw sleeping rough on the road down to his office from what is now HMP Manchester had recently been released from there. Symbolically, they had barely moved on. Given today’s remarks, he clearly remains profoundly exercised by this.

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The second piece of good news is that proposed new subsection (3) of my amendment, which would require the Secretary of State to publish an annual report of local housing authorities’ performance in providing homes to prison leavers, is now government policy. Last week, I led a QSD on the effectiveness of partnership working between prisons and local housing authorities in preventing homelessness and rough sleeping among prisoners released early. In his response, the noble Lord, Lord Timpson, who I am very saddened and disappointed to hear is leaving the Government, announced that the Ministry of Justice is working with MHCLG on new league tables. These will show by local authority how many prison leavers end up homeless or rough sleeping on release. This will, he said, be published by the end of the year and then annually from July 2027, and drive accountability and transparency. This policy now needs to be future-proofed through legislation. The departure of the noble Lord, Lord Timpson, highlights how quickly things can change.

I will address the small but important change I have made on Report to my previous amendment. Proposed new subsection (1)(b) would place a duty on the Secretary of State to facilitate effective collaboration between housing authorities, HMPPS and other relevant organisations. In his remarks to the House last Thursday, the noble Lord, Lord Timpson, highlighted the Government’s commitment to legislate for the duty to collaborate, included in the national plan to end homelessness, as soon as possible and when parliamentary time allows. This duty will compel public services to work together to prevent homelessness by identifying need earlier, intervening sooner and supporting people at crisis point. He said,

“we all recognise how important this is and we want to get on with it

”.—[Official Report, 16/7/26; col. 751.]

I know how hard MHCLG officials are working on designing the duty to collaborate, but the new Prime Minister’s explicit support behind them should greatly

assist their progress. I included a reference to collaboration in this new iteration of my amendment to emphasise that the Bill provides the necessary legislative opportunity referred to by the noble Lord, Lord Timpson. Of course, there will be details to iron out, but these would, as my amendment suggests, be covered in regulations made by statutory instrument. It would be terrific if there was an announcement today that the Government will bring forward their own amendment at Third Reading after the helpful hiatus in proceedings that recess allows.

A National Plan to End Homelessness includes a commitment by the end of this Parliament to reduce by half the proportion of people who become homeless on their first night out of prison, as well as an overall increase in the number of prison leavers in settled accommodation at three months after release and beyond. I have already mentioned that more than half of those referred through the duty to refer are in this broad category. Fixing the system for released prisoners would lay down train tracks that would lead to fixing it for everyone. I beg to move.