The bill would mean that local housing authorities would be required to carry out homelessness prevention work with eligible people, by making changes to Part 7 of the Housing Act 1996.

The bill places duties on local housing authorities to intervene at earlier stages to prevent homelessness and to provide some new homelessness services to all people in their area.

The categories of people who local authorities must assist in finding accommodation will be expanded.

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Conservative MP David Mackintosh welcomes the government's support of the bill, saying that the decision demonstrates that the government is determined to tackle homelessness and "support the most vulnerable in our society".

Mr Mackintosh also praises the work of Jo Cox, the Labour MP who was murdered in the summer, and her "energetic approach to problem solving and reaching out across the House".

Labour's Karen Buck also supports the bill, welcoming the support and advice that it offers to people, rather than providing "just a list of telephone numbers to ring".

Ms Buck does however warn that "welcome as the proposals are, they are in a context that is rapidly deteriorating".

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Labour's Mike Gapes is not impressed with the bill.

He calls it "gesture politics of the worst kind", saying of the bill's supporters "you will the ends but don't provide the means".

"This bill will not provide any additional social housing in my constituency, or any good quality private rented accommodation in my constituency, or any additional funding for the bill's stipulations," he says.

He criticises Bob Blackman's "take it or leave it" attitude when he called for no amendments to be made to the bill to ease its passage through the House.

"There are still issues in this bill that means it need to be looked at very closely," he says.

Mike Gapes tells MPs that his London borough of Redbridge has a "huge homelessness problem" and warns that his local authority is "down to the bare bones" and that the bill will add "considerable burden" to them.

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Veteran Welsh Labour MP Paul Flynn praises the work of the Welsh Labour government in addressing homelessness along similar lines to those proposed by this bill.

New Welsh legislation means that local authorities have a duty to prevent all those threatened with homelessness from becoming homeless. Statistics covering the first full year of implementing the new statutory provisions in Wales indicate some success in the prevention of homelessness.  

Mr Flynn praises Conservative Bob Blackman for bringing in the bill and finishes his contribution by saying "This is a fine bill and it's wonderful to see a progressive, intelligent and highly practical politician following the example of socialists in Wales."

For those of you seeking further information on the bill, the House of Commons library has compiled a detailed briefing on the bill's aims and origins, as well as providing information on new legislative approaches in Scotland and Wales to the issue of homelessness.

The briefing can be found here, external, and contains links to other relevant library research papers.

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Labour's shadow housing secretary John Healey speaks early on in the bill and joins others in congratulating Bob Blackman on the work he has done; and also thanks the minister for his support for the legislation - and "all the hard work behind the scenes" in getting government support.

He does, however, warn the government that the Opposition expects it to fund the costs of the extra duties in this bill "in full", and also expects ministers to tackle the causes of the growing homelessness in the country.

"Those are the two tests that those on this side will hold this government to account on," Mr Healey says.

Mr Healey says that Labour welcomes and supports the bill, and tells MPs that government housing policies since 2010 "have led directly to this crisis".

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Clive Betts praises Mr Blackman for "the huge amount of work" he has put into the bill in building support and ensuring that it has received a great deal of scrutiny.

Mr Betts points out that the figures on homelessness do not pick up on "the tens of thousands" of people who do not present themselves to a local authority. "So we know that the problem is far bigger than the figures show," he says.

The Communities and Local Government Committee chair and Labour MP also says that "this bill, admirable though it is, will not deal with the housing crisis in this country".

"There is a shortage of housing caused by decades of governments not building enough homes," Mr Betts says, and tells MPs that the witnesses to the committee's inquiry "all said" that the government needed to be building more social homes to tackle homelessness.

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Communities and Local Government Committee chair Clive Betts is the second MP rising to speak in the debate.

Mr Betts says that "we are used to following precedent in this place but on this occasion I think we have made precedent". He refers to the genesis of the bill and the pre-legislative scrutiny given to the bill by the Communities and Local Government Committee.

The Communities and Local Government Committee carried out an inquiry into homelessness and produced its report in August. 

In their conclusions and recommendations, the committee stated that they support the Homelessness Reduction Bill 2016–17 sponsored by Mr Blackman, and urged the government to support the legislation.

In addition, the committee have also carried out a pre-legislative scrutiny of the Homelessness Reduction Bill itself.

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Conservative MP Philip Davies is a regular attendee on Friday sittings, and frequently takes issue with private members' bills, which he says can be badly thought through. He indicates he'll support Mr Blackman's bill today.

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Bob Blackman pleads with MPs and peers not to weigh down the bill with amendments and new clauses, as he says private members' bills are "inherently vulnerable" due to their limited time allotment.

"Amendments are very likely to see this bill fail in its entirety," he says.

Mr Blackman does however invite his colleagues to volunteer for service on the bill committee and says he will consider offers for new clauses.

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A number of MPs intervene on Mr Blackman talk about the "perverse incentives" in many places in the country, whereby evidence of physical, substance or other abuse is often needed for help to be provided.

Others talk about the need to prioritise those leaving care services or the armed forces.

Mr Blackman confirms that care leavers and armed forces personnel are specifically addressed in the bill, and on the issue of "perverse incentives" he says that his bill seeks to provide help and advice for those who have become homeless, rather than waiting for them to reach crisis.

Image source, HoC

The Homelessness Reduction Bill is published online - you can read it here, external. 

The bill aims to place greater emphasis on local authorities taking preventative measures to help address homelessness before it occurs, and strengthens the provisions for 'non-priority need' households.

The bill is strongly backed by the Communities and Local Government Select Committee, of which Mr Blackman is a member, and which has focused strongly on homelessness in this Parliament.

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Bob Blackman tells MPs that the aim of the bill is to prevent homelessness in the first place by changing the approach of services from reaction to prevention.

The Harrow East MP says that this will save money for local authorities and the NHS in the long-run.

"For too long we in this place have forced local authorities to ration their help to homeless people in their communities," Mr Blackman says.

Responding to an intervention from Labour MP Mike Gapes - that relays his local council's concerns about the added costs inherent in the bill - Mr Blackman says that there would indeed necessarily be "an increased cost in the help, advice and prevention services"

"And this should be funded by government," he says.