Alafat unveils three-point strategy to get 50,000 families out of temporary homes

Terri Alafat, head of the ODPM’s homelessness directorate, has proposed increasing the supply of new social housing, upping the proportion of social homes let to homeless families and turning temporary leases into permanent tenancies.

Speaking at the launch of the government’s strategy on homelessness on Monday, Alafat said the measures would make the government’s target to get 50,000 households out of temporary accommodation achievable.

She said: “Increasing the supply of new social housing by 50% by 2007/8 [will produce] 75,000 new social rented homes. If half went to homeless families, that would be 37,000.”

In some parts of the country about 25% of social housing lets went to homeless families, she added. “If you increased the 25% to 30% or 40%, you could get another 20,000.”

Alafat said the ODPM would talk to councils and housing associations about the possibility of giving permanent tenancies to some of the 30,000 households they have in temporary accommodation.

The department will also talk to them about what could be achieved in their area as targets would vary around the country. Newham council’s Local Space scheme, for example, will eventually turn its long-term temporary homes into permanent social housing.

The strategy also says homelessness legislation could be changed to improve prevention of homelessness and consider whether new laws could help turn temporary accommodation into permanent homes.

There will be consultation on specific proposals later this year.

Funding for homelessness will increase by 23% from £60m to £74m, but this money was announced in the comprehensive spending review last July. The ODPM has also announced the Working Future pilot to make it financially viable for people in temporary homes to get off benefits and into work (HT 11 March, page 7).

The strategy was unveiled as the latest homelessness figures, also published on Monday, showed a small drop in the number of households in temporary housing. It fell from 101,300 in the third quarter of 2004 to 101,030 in the fourth quarter. The number of households accepted as homeless was about 9% lower than at the same time in 2003.

The government also launched its response to the ODPM select committee’s report into homelessness on Monday. Alafat said the ODPM would revise the homelessness code of guidance in response to the report’s criticism that groups such as ex-offenders might be wrongly deemed intentionally homeless and pushed to the back of the queue for help.