The government has announced that it intends to halve rough sleeping and ‘prevent homelessness before it occurs’, as part of its new National Plan to End Homelessness. The plan will ‘support the most vulnerable in our society to find their feet and improve their lives’, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government states.
Backed by £3.5bn of investment over three years, the plan is informed by people with lived experience and frontline workers, the department says, putting ‘real world insight into action’. The document contains key pledges to halve the number of long-term rough sleepers, prevent more households from becoming homeless and end the unlawful use of B&Bs to house families.
‘For too long, people who have spent years on the streets, often with the most complex needs, have been left with no help,’ the department states. ‘This strategy rewires the system to focus support where it’s needed most.’ There will be a duty on public services to work together and set ‘clear targets’ such as halving the number who become homeless on their first night out of prison and preventing people from being discharged from hospital on to the street. Local authorities will now publish ‘tailored action plans’ alongside their homelessness strategies, including targeted support for areas facing the most significant challenges, and there will be a national workforce programme to boost training for frontline teams.
The announcement comes as the latest figures from Shelter estimate that there are now more than 380,000 people homeless in England alone, eight per cent up on last year and with a 20 per cent increase in the number of people sleeping rough on any given night – to 4,667. ‘Shelter’s analysis, which is the most comprehensive overview of recorded homelessness by local authority area, shows one in every 153 people in England are now experiencing homelessness,’ the charity states. Recent figures from the Museum of Homelessness showed that the number of people who died while experiencing homelessness was up by 10 per cent last year, to more than 1,600. Forty three per cent of the deaths were related to drug or alcohol use.
The new plan was ‘shaped by the voices of those who’ve lived through homelessness and the frontline workers who fight tirelessly to prevent it,’ said housing secretary Steve Reed. ‘Through our new strategy we can build a future where homelessness is rare, brief, and not repeated. With record investment, new duties on public services, and a relentless focus on accountability, we will turn ambition into reality.’
St Mungo’s chief executive Emma Haddad called the strategy a ‘watershed’ moment. ‘The ambition set out today offers the start of a blueprint for ending homelessness and rough sleeping for good. After 15 years of almost consistent rises in the number of people being affected by homelessness, we are relieved to see the government recognising the scale of the crisis and the pressing need to address it. We see how damaging even a single night on the streets can be, and how quickly that one-off crisis can turn into a complex cycle of homelessness. The new targets need to focus all our minds.’
Her organisation particularly welcomed the new ‘duty to collaborate’, she said – a ‘huge opportunity to end the needless homelessness that we see from people leaving hospitals, prisons and asylum accommodation through joining up how government agencies work together’.
However, co-chair of the APPG for ending homelessness, Paula Barker, told Sky News that the plan appeared ‘rushed’ and had a ‘depressing lack of meat on the bone’. ‘From what I have seen so far, it leaves more questions than it answers – where are the clear measures around prevention? Where is the accommodation for people sleeping rough coming from – has it already been built? What about specialised provision for those fleeing domestic abuse?’
‘Past failures of government to work collaboratively have undermined efforts to reduce homelessness, so the introduction of new legal duties for branches of government to work together on ending and preventing homelessness is a positive step,’ said Homeless Link CEO Rick Henderson. ‘We will be watching closely to make sure this becomes a reality.’ Resourcing was also critical, he said. ‘The new funding is welcome, as always, considering the extremely strained financial situation of many homelessness support and prevention services. But more fundamental changes are needed to the homelessness funding model to ensure the sustainability of crucial services.’
A national plan to end homelessness available here