Speeches by Ali.

“There is the Renters Reform Bill and the ending of section 21. We know from the evidence that it is well over 20,000 people who end up homeless because of that particular provision, which is going to be ended. Again, we are taking action to prevent particular policies having unintended consequences or adverse effects. …”

“You are absolutely right. That is why the work we do nationally, the strategy and the work we are doing in the inter-ministerial taskforce is really key, in terms of having those relevant Departments and Ministers in the inter‑departmental group. On the funding side, there has been an investment from the Departm…”

“I have had a meeting with my counterpart where homelessness and rough sleeping have been on the agenda, yes.”

“Yes. It should be published imminently.”

“As I mentioned at the beginning, we started to work immediately, straight after the election, with the Home Office to provide some transition time once status is determined. If people have refugee status, there is the spectre of this short period of time. That has been extended. That is really important, in order to he…”

“I am Rushanara Ali, Minister for Homelessness and Democracy.”

“Good morning, Chair. To the Committee, I want to start with saying how delighted I am to be here in front of this Committee and at the fact that this Committee is looking at homelessness and rough sleeping, which I know is a subject close to all our hearts, given the challenges we face. For me, since I joined the team …”

“Our aim is to work across Government and make sure that those underlying issues that drive homelessness and rough sleeping are owned by the relevant Departments. That is a feature of a number of cross-governmental groups, for instance the violence against women inter-ministerial group, the child poverty inter-ministeri…”

“Each Department has lead responsibility. To give you an example, this is not a talking shop. We have been taking action in terms of my Department. The first thing we did is that the Chancellor, as you know, increased the funding for homelessness by £233 million, bringing the total to £1 billion, which we announced the …”

“We can follow up, but this is an initial meeting, setting out and agreeing the themes. Then, as I say, we have another meeting coming up. To reassure you all, we are not waiting for a strategy to develop. We have taken action in terms of legislative programmes in my Department, as you know. We can go on to it later. Th…”

“We expect to publish the strategy following the conclusion of phase 2 of the spending review. I would not want to get into specifics, but that is just to reassure you. We can continue the conversation as we make progress, as we do in Parliament. Obviously, it is not just this session. There will be other opportunities …”

“It is an internal government report. We are at the early stages of looking at working across Government, but we are certainly keen to engage this Committee. When the report of this inquiry comes out, we would be keen to draw on the insights that you have. I have looked very carefully at the written evidence that was su…”

“There will be a strategy that will be available after phase 2 of the spending review.”

“I will just bring in Penny if she wanted to add anything.”

“I could not agree more. To reassure you, we have some great examples. You mentioned some of that. In terms of policy, the previous Labour Government cut rough sleeping by two-thirds. We have a really good evidence base on what worked historically and where things can go wrong. We need to learn from success as well as f…”

“To reassure you, in parallel we are doing work around supporting local authorities in terms of funding, but also there are the homelessness advisers in the Department who work with those who are facing particular challenges. We also have a series of Government programmes and pilots, such as the Housing First pilot and …”

“As an MP representing a constituency in London, I know how devastating it is. I have, as I know other colleagues have, dealt with life and death situations with constituents because of these sorts of issues and challenges in terms of shortage but also the sorts of examples you have given. Damp and mould, if it is not t…”

“The legislative programme is really important in what we are doing as a Government now. There is a wider issue around improvement, regulation and the regulators, because the numbers are concerning. The English Housing Survey data is concerning in terms of the private rented sector, but also in the social rented. It is …”

“We know from our own individual experiences in constituencies that there are huge pressures on local authorities. They have had 14 years of cuts in funding. There are pressures. This Government have already increased the funding and support to local authorities. We want to work closely with local authorities to identif…”

“Immediate action that the Chancellor has taken is to provide £500 million to the affordable homes programme to get 5,000 affordable homes available as quickly as possible, built or provided for, in terms of social housing. There is the £450 million that was announced just after the general election for schemes like tha…”