It shall be the duty of the Secretary of State to provide and maintain places, to be known as resettlement units, at which persons without a settled way of life are afforded temporary board and lodging with a view to influencing them to lead a more settled life.

The Secretary of State may require the councils of counties . . . F2and of metropolitan districts, regions, island areas and London boroughs and the Common Council of the City of London to exercise, on behalf of the Secretary of State and in accordance with any directions given by the Secretary of State, the functions of providing and maintaining resettlement units.

A council may recover from the Secretary of State any expenditure incurred by them under this paragraph with the approval of the Secretary of State, given either as respects that expenditure or generally as respects expenditure up to a specified amount.

Before giving directions under sub-paragraph (2) above the Secretary of State shall consult with such local authorities, or associations of local authorities, as appear to him to be concerned.