Funding arrangements and conditions for the Homelessness Prevention Grant

This consultation is seeking input from local authorities and other interested stakeholders on five key proposals in relation to the Homelessness Prevention Grant:

• Updating the allocations formula so that it reflects current homelessness pressures
• Introducing transitional arrangements for changes to funding allocations
• Determining the timing of the announcements of 2023-24 and 2024-25 allocations, including a possible two-year funding allocation
• Adding a grant condition to require local authorities to submit additional spend declaration information under the categories of ‘prevention and relief’ and ‘TA’ and ‘main duty/other’ spend
• Introducing tranche payments and requiring accurate H-CLIC statistics (Homelessness Case Level Information Collection - data returns submitted by local authorities to DLUHC) to be submitted to receive the second tranche of funding

The aims of this consultation are as follows:

• To make sure that grant funding is distributed fairly to local authorities and is driven by a current picture of need
• To make sure any changes to funding allocations can be incorporated into service delivery, continuing to enable local authorities to meet their statutory homelessness duties
• To improve government understanding of how the grant is spent and to help understand what drives good performance, which should support the longer-term aim to focus the grant more on prevention activity
• To enhance shared learning across authorities in terms of maximising prevention activity, enabling local authorities to achieve better outcomes
• To improve government understanding of the impact of the funding, particularly in relation to temporary accommodation outcomes, by incentivising more consistent data reporting by local authorities.

This consultation is reviewing the local allocations and conditions of the funding, rather than the overall level of funding available for the Homelessness Prevention Grant. Your input will help government to take an informed decision on the funding distribution model, allocations and grant conditions for 2023-24, 2024-25 and beyond. Your input will also help government to strike the right balance between enhanced scrutiny and accuracy of the funding model’s reflection of needs alongside sustainability of changes and the relative importance of each of these factors.

This consultation is open for response from 1 July to 26 August. We will also be holding focus groups with a selection of local authorities during the consultation period. We will publish our consultation response alongside the allocations in late 2022.