A golden opportunity to end rough sleeping for good

The national effort to support vulnerable people through this crisis has been remarkable.

The government’s shielding programme — the most significant programme of its kind since the Second World War — delivered millions of support parcels to the most clinically vulnerable among us.

And our support for rough sleepers has been praised as the world’s most comprehensive package of support, uniting the public and private sectors with a common goal — protecting thousands of lives.

At the start of the crisis, we required local councils in England to provide emergency accommodation in budget hotels to every homeless person living on the streets, meaning that over 90% of people sleeping on the streets were offered a place to stay. Thousands were provided accommodation — many in vacant hotel rooms and student rooms.

This prompted Crisis chief executive Jon Sparkes to say “The government’s insistence that everyone sleeping rough should be housed by the weekend is a landmark moment — and the right thing to do.”

The word ‘unprecedented’ has been bandied about extensively since March, but the speed with which councils moved in March, and the number of lives undoubtedly saved, truly merits the label.

As Yasmeen Serhan writes in The Atlantic, “Britain isn’t the only country that has utilized the sudden abundance of empty hotels to house its unsheltered population during the pandemic — Australia, France, and parts of the United States have done the same — but it has arguably done so with the most success.”

We can’t let this opportunity to end rough sleeping go to waste. We have here a landmark, golden, opportunity to ensure that people do not return to a life on the streets and to break the cycle of homelessness and rough sleeping for good.

That’s why Government support for homelessness and rough sleepers now stands at over half a billion pounds this year.

Last week I launched a new £266 million housing fund for vulnerable people, the Next Steps Accommodation Programme, meaning councils and their local partners can apply for funds to cover property costs and support new tenancies for those that have been provided with emergency accommodation during the pandemic.

Over half of this funding will be used to provide over 3,000 additional supported homes this year for those currently housed in emergency accommodation, part of our total effort to provide 6,000 longer-term, safe homes for those in need.

These new homes will be a permanent national asset.

They will be symbols of hope and opportunity for those looking to turn their lives around, and for the determination of our country to end roughsleeping.

This funding builds upon what we have made available since the start of the pandemic — £4.3 billion to help councils to manage the impacts of COVID-19, including £3.7 billion which is not ringfenced, £600 million to support social care and an initial £3.2 million in emergency funding for councils to support vulnerable rough sleepers.

In addition, we’ve tackled the root causes of rough sleeping, supporting those at risk of homelessness with an injection of over £6.5 billion into the welfare system and providing £6 million of emergency funding to provide relief for 130 frontline homelessness charities.

Dame Louise Casey, one of the government’s leading specialists, is spearheading our new taskforce with one overriding objective: to ensure that as many people as possible who have been brought in do not return to the streets.

I’m proud of all that this country has done to tackle Coronavirus.

From the heroic efforts of our NHS and the council staff ensuring vital public services continue to simple acts of kindness that unite neighbours, streets and whole communities in confronting the challenge.

Together we have already achieved so much and together we can end rough sleeping once and for all.

Robert Jenrick has served as Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government since 2019