Homelessness and Rough Sleeping: Winter Pressures Funding

I am pleased to announce to the House that the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has today taken an important step towards tackling homelessness.

The Deputy Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Ashton-under-Lyne (Angela Rayner), will chair the first cross-Government inter-ministerial group on homelessness and rough sleeping, following the confirmation at Budget of nearly £1 billion to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping. Further, my Department will be providing £10 million of rough sleeping winter pressures funding to local authorities across England this winter.

The inter-ministerial group will bring together Ministers from across Government to drive progress on the development of our strategy to get back on track to ending homelessness, making sure we are working across Government, and in partnership with local authorities and mayors, to tackle the root causes. This first meeting marks an important step to developing our strategy and follows the announcement at Budget of nearly £1 billion of funding for homelessness and rough sleeping for 2025-26, an increase of £233 million on 2024-25. This will help to prevent the rising number of families in temporary accommodation and help to prevent rough sleeping.

The £10 million funding allocated across London and to 115 local authorities outside London will provide a range of services to tackle rough sleeping this winter in the areas with greatest rough sleeping pressures. This includes specialist support to vulnerable groups such as veterans, care leavers and victims of domestic abuse sleeping rough. It also includes support to people at risk of rough sleeping, as well as immediate off-the-street accommodation and support to prevent individuals returning to the streets. Services provided from the winter pressures 2024-25 funding will enable local authorities to act during periods of extreme weather over winter and help save lives.

Today’s announcement is a further demonstration of our commitment to getting back on track to ending homelessness, and I hope that colleagues across the House will work with me in this endeavour.

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