Submission: Public Accounts Committee inquiry into housebuilding and homelessness

The Government was elected on a manifesto which included ambitious commitments
on homelessness and housebuilding; commitments that if enacted in the right way
would have a transformative impact on society. The COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare
the devastating urgency of the housing emergency: many private renters have fallen
into rent arrears, homeless families have spent lockdowns in unsuitable, overcrowded
temporary accommodation, and the Everyone In programme exposed that many more
people are street homeless than the Government previously acknowledged. Urgent
action to build genuinely affordable social homes at scale and end rough sleeping for
good is more pressing than ever.