Prime minister Andy Burnham has pledged £442m to get everyone sleeping rough off the streets by Christmas, though housing bodies warn it fails to address root causes of homelessness.
In one of his first acts on becoming Prime Minister in July, Burnham pledged £340m of funding for new support for rough sleepers. This latest announcement is intended to build on that, with an additional £102m of funding confirmed, however as industry figures point out, any lasting solution to homelessness must tackle fundamental structural issues.
The Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) said the intervention was welcome but urgent, warning that ending rough sleeping sustainably will require tackling the shortage of social and supported housing, the affordability crisis in the private rented sector, and the lack of secure, ongoing revenue funding to sustain tenancies over the long term.
The Local Government Association (LGA) echoed the concern, pointing to a 125% real-terms rise in councils’ net spend on homelessness services between 2019/20 and 2024/25, alongside a 51.9% increase in people requiring temporary accommodation over the same period.
Both bodies pointed to lessons from the pandemic-era Everyone In programme as a warning. According to Shelter, more than three-quarters of people initially accommodated under that scheme had not moved into settled housing six months on, underlining, in CIH’s view, the need for emergency action to be matched by sufficient long-term housing and support.
National summit
Burnham said: “No-one should have to bed down in a doorway or outside a station. But we’ve seen it for so long that it feels like Westminster has started to accept it. I won’t accept it. That’s why my first instruction as prime minister was to end rough sleeping. And it’s why today we’re getting started with a national drive to get everyone in for Christmas.
“We did it in the pandemic. We can do it again. But it needs all of us. Government will put the money in. But I’m asking leaders in communities and sectors across society to play their part locally too. Let’s get people out the cold. And let’s bring back hope.”
The additional cash announced this week will fund immediate winter support, including an uplift to the Ending Homelessness in Communities Fund. Areas with the greatest need will receive the largest share, says the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (MHCLG), and the money will also help deliver more than 1,000 settled homes over the next three years, alongside wraparound support.
Burnham will host a national summit in the autumn, bringing together leaders from business, finance, charities, health and faith communities to discuss what role each can play in ending rough sleeping.
Guidance published alongside the funding calls for adequate, accessible provision for women sleeping rough, recognising they are often under-represented in official statistics and at greater risk of violence, abuse and exploitation. It encourages areas to consider single-sex accommodation with specialist, trauma-informed support for victims of domestic abuse and sexual violence, as part of the government’s commitment to halve violence against women and girls within 10 years.
Housing secretary Angela Rayner said: “When the prime minister pledged to end rough sleeping, we said we’d move urgently from words to action. Today we’re delivering on that promise. This funding will help thousands of people leave the streets behind, move into secure homes and get the support they need to rebuild their lives.”
Structural cause
Gavin Smart, chief executive of CIH, said: “[This] announcement of the prime minister’s national drive to end rough sleeping is welcome and important. This kind of clear political leadership can be transformative. Although this much needed short-term intervention will provide immediate relief, ending rough sleeping sustainably requires action to address the structural causes of homelessness: the shortage of social and supported housing, affordability pressures in the private rented sector, and the lack of secure, ongoing revenue funding for the support people need to sustain tenancies and flourish.”
Councillor Liam Robinson, chair of the LGA’s Inclusive Growth Committee, said: “Additional funding to tackle rough sleeping, as well as a summit to focus minds on how to address the issue is positive. It is right that local areas, who know their communities best, will determine how to use this additional funding.
“Councils are integral to the efforts to prevent homelessness in the first place, but need sustainable resourcing and empowerment to ensure any progress is lasting. Councils’ net spend on homelessness services has risen by £950m (125%) in real terms from 2019/20 to 2024/25, and there has been an increase of 51.9% of people requiring temporary accommodation in the same period.
“Given the scale of this challenge, we need ambition and resources to make the progress we need in the long term, and most importantly, to address the root causes of homelessness in this country.”
Matt Downie, chief executive of Crisis, said: “[The] announcement represents a clear statement that in the 21st century, we will not tolerate a situation where people are having to bed down on our streets. It puts us on the path to an historic milestone: the end of rough sleeping in England.
“Being forced to sleep rough puts people at increased risk of serious illness, violence, and abuse. The average age of death for people experiencing homelessness is 45 for men and 43 for women. So getting people off the streets and onto the path to a settled, secure home will save lives. In the long-term, rough sleeping can only be solved with the provision of safe, affordable homes, so we really welcome the funding to provide more settled homes.
“Where access to a home isn’t possible straight away, providing good quality accommodation with a clear plan to support people into settled housing is a vital first step. We stand ready to help the prime minister in delivering this vital intervention ahead of Christmas, starting with this autumn’s summit that will bring together civil society, businesses and faith leaders to help deliver on the government’s vision of a country without rough sleeping.”
Councillor Sean Matthews, chair-elect of the County Councils Network, said: “The numbers of people in county and rural areas who are rough sleeping has increased by a third over the last two years and has reached a record high of 1,821 people. This is 38% of England’s entire total, so this is a major issue for councils in county areas.
“With rough sleeping harder to assess in rural and remote areas – people may sofa surf, live in vehicles, or sleep in agricultural buildings – councils say the official figures could understate the severity of the problem. The County Councils Network welcomes [the] announcement but we must recognise the additional challenges rural unitary and district councils face.
“With rough sleeping and homelessness arguably trickier and more complex to alleviate in these places, it is vital that these councils receive a proportionate amount of funding from today’s announcement and that rough sleeping is not seen as purely a major city problem. These councils also need dedicated and targeted support to achieve the ambition to end rough sleeping at a time of competing pressures, including local government reorganisation.”
Image credit: RDK2001 – Shutterstock
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