Highlights
- Specialist outreach teams and additional bedspaces are already operating in Coventry, with provision planned for Plymouth and Camden.
- Housing associations will be asked to identify at least 2,000 potential homes and bedspaces.
- Businesses and charities have pledged digital support, employment opportunities and other help for people experiencing homelessness.
PRIME MINISTER Andy Burnham has pledged to double funding for efforts to tackle rough sleeping, saying everyone sleeping on the streets will be offered a route into accommodation or wider support before Christmas.
An additional £432 million will be announced in the Budget on Wednesday (28), taking the total investment behind the commitment to £874m. The funding is intended to maintain support beyond March 2027 and until the end of the current Parliament.
Burnham said rough sleeping should not be accepted as an unavoidable part of life and called for a national effort to help people leave the streets.
“Rough sleeping isn’t a fact of life. It’s a thing governments either choose to accept or don’t,” he said.
“Well, I don’t accept it. That’s why we’re doubling funding so that people aren’t just offered a safe route off the streets this winter but have that same support right through the rest of this Parliament too.”
The commitment builds on a pledge Burnham made on his first day in Downing Street to make tackling rough sleeping a national priority.
Initial funding of £442m is supporting the programme, which aims to ensure that everyone who needs help is offered a route off the streets before Christmas. Specialist outreach teams and additional bedspaces are already operating in Coventry, with further provision due to be introduced in Plymouth and Camden over the coming weeks.
The additional investment is intended to prevent support from ending when winter is over. It will help frontline services continue their work and support people in moving into settled accommodation.
Summit brings businesses and charities together
Burnham will host the first-ever Rough Sleeping Summit at Downing Street, bringing together businesses, charities, housing providers and local leaders to agree how they can contribute to the effort.
The government says public funding alone will not be enough to end rough sleeping and that businesses and community organisations have a role in providing accommodation, jobs and practical support.
The National Housing Federation will work with housing associations to identify at least 2,000 potential homes and bedspaces, including empty properties that could be brought back into use.
Andy Burnham (Photo by Temilade Adelaja / POOL / AFP via Getty Images)
Virgin Media O2 will provide digital support to organisations working with people experiencing homelessness.
L’Oréal Group will launch a Social Salon partnership with St Mungo’s, a homelessness charity, and Haircuts4Homeless. The initiative is intended to provide practical support to people who are homeless.
Burnham said the government needed support from across society to make its plans work.
“But we can’t do it alone. If we’re going to end rough sleeping, we need every part of society behind us on this,” he said.
“So today we’re bringing together businesses, charities and local leaders in Downing Street to make sure this is a solution that lasts.”
Ministers say Christmas is only the beginning
Chancellor of the Exchequer John Healey said the additional investment would help people break the cycle of rough sleeping.
“No one should ever have to sleep rough, which is why we are doubling our investment to more people and providing a chance to break the cycle and end sleeping on the streets of our country – not just this Christmas, but for the years to come,” he said.
Housing secretary Angela Rayner acknowledged the scale of the task but said the government would continue to pursue its commitment.
“This is a big ambition – we know that. But we will not back down from making sure everyone has the offer of a route off the streets this Christmas,” she said.
Comic Relief chief executive Samir Patel welcomed the focus on long-term solutions, saying homelessness was preventable.
“Through more than 25 years of supporting organisations tackling homelessness and housing insecurity, we've seen that the most effective solutions start early, are shaped by people with lived experience, and are delivered by trusted local organisations that understand the needs of their communities,” he said.
Conservatives question spending plans
Meanwhile, the Conservatives criticised the announcement, arguing that the government had failed to address rising rough sleeping despite committing more public money.
Katie Lam, the party’s shadow housing secretary, said Burnham was committing another £432m to a problem he had failed to solve in Greater Manchester.
“Under Labour, rough sleeping has hit record highs – yet their answer is always more taxpayers’ money and more empty promises,” she said.
Lam called on Healey to use Wednesday’s Budget to cut taxes for working people, control the benefits bill and prevent energy prices from rising.
“Instead of piling more costs onto hard-working people, Healey must focus on easing the cost of living and delivering real value for taxpayers’ money,” she said.
