21 July 2006
Local authorities in London are to receive a further £50m to help tackle homelessness and overcrowding.
Ministers are keen to expand schemes already in operation in Ealing and Newham, where councils buy private properties to avoid placing homeless families in expensive rented accommodation.
Although 41 councils across England have met a target for halving numbers in temporary accommodation, they do not include a single London authority.
Housing minister Yvette Cooper, who recently announced plans for more family-size homes in the capital, said the only long-term solution was extra accommodation. 'In the meantime, we can do more for families who are in desperate housing need today,' she said.
A total of £30m will be spent on moving families out of private rented accommodation, using a scheme that is partly financed through housing benefit.
The remaining £20m will be targeted at programmes to cut overcrowding, including support for single people wishing to leave their family home.
Announcing the extra investment on July 14, Cooper also confirmed that the government was consulting over plans to revise 70-year-old statutory overcrowding standards, which assume children share bedrooms with their parents.
According to the Association of London Government, two out of five overcrowded households are in the capital. Adam Sampson, director of the housing charity Shelter, said revised standards could mean the difference between 'a life of misery or a decent home for thousands of children'.
The Department for Communities and Local Government wants to bring homelessness figures down to below 50,000 by 2010.
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