AQW 29870/22-27

Ms Kellie Armstrong
Alliance Party
Strangford

Tabled Date: 03/07/2025
Answered On Date: 05/08/2025
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister for Communities to detail any actions being taken to secure additional money for (i) Supporting People; and (ii) homelessness prevention, given the growing number of people awarded Full Duty homeless status.

Answer:

As outlined in my Department’s Budget 2025/26 EQIA I have

allocated an additional £3.7m above the 2024/25 Budget position to help bring forward new and extended services which align to the 3 year Supporting People Strategy and aim to prevent homelessness.

Of this, £2.7m has been allocated for strategic homelessness prevention and £1m has been provided to Supporting People for new services and the extension of current services.

I also bid for an additional £2.2m funding in the June Monitoring Round to cover the increase in Employee National Insurance Contributions incurred by Supporting People scheme providers in 2025/26, however, this bid was not met.

I awarded £2.8m of capital and £0.2m resource to the New Foundations Project, to enable young people leaving care and who are at risk of homelessness to be identified earlier, with the aim to provide a safe and secure accommodation solution.

£4m of Financial Transaction Capital has also been allocated for the Loan to Acquire Move-on Accommodation (LAMA), to enable homelessness charities to purchase safe, secure, private rental properties to facilitate faster movement thought the homelessness system.