[holding answer 23 February 2007]: Communities and Local Government collects data on Local Government expenditure in England on homelessness through the revenue outturn returns. The public expenditure on placing households in temporary accommodation in each year since 1997 is tabled as follows.
£000 Private sector leasing1 1997-98 40,066 1998-99 37,515 1999-2000 33,476 2000-01 32,442 2001-02 39,866 2002-03 72,426 Other homelessness2 1997-98 36,038 1998-99 45,327 1999-2000 50,114 2000-01 60,019 2001-02 94,709 2002-03 99,652 Leasehold dwellings3 2003-04 161,148 2004-05 239,174 2005-06 282,937 Other temporary accommodation4 2003-04 95,511 2004-05 197,288 2005-06 189,642
The increase in expenditure on leased accommodation reflects both that more vulnerable people are receiving help with accommodation, following the strengthening of the statutory safety net in 2002; and the Government’s drive to improve the quality of temporary accommodation used to house people under the homelessness legislation. Although good quality, self-contained leasehold accommodation accounts for around 50 per cent. of temporary accommodation used by local authorities, more needs to be done to help people find settled homes. In 2004, we set the challenging target of halving the number of households in temporary accommodation by 2010.