“As this report rightly recognises, councils responded rapidly and decisively in getting people sleeping rough off the streets during the Everyone In initiative."
Responding to a report by the Public Accounts Committee into housing people sleeping rough during the pandemic, Cllr David Renard, Local Government Association housing spokesperson, said:
“As this report rightly recognises, councils responded rapidly and decisively in getting people sleeping rough off the streets during the Everyone In initiative.
“We now want to work with government on a cross-departmental homelessness prevention strategy to make this the new normal, rather than a one-off emergency response, and end rough sleeping.
“The funding provided by government to tackle rough sleeping has been vital. But if councils are to prevent homelessness from happening in the first place, short-term reactive pots of funding need to be replaced by long-term funding issued through multi-year settlements to give councils the certainty they need to plan local services.
“The Committee is also right to highlight the issue of No Recourse to Public Funds, which we continue to urge the Government to lift so that councils can ensure that everyone who is vulnerable can access help if needed, regardless of immigration status.”