National effort to end rough sleeping

The Community Secretary Sajid Javid has set out details of a new Rough Sleeping Advisory Panel that will help develop a national strategy as part of the government’s commitment to halve rough sleeping by 2022 and eliminate it altogether by 2027.

The new Advisory Panel, made up of homelessness experts, charities and local governments, will support the Ministerial Taskforce, which brings together ministers from key departments to provide a cross-government approach to preventing rough sleeping and homelessness.

This action builds on work the government is already doing, including: spending over £1 billion until 2020 to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping; implementing the Homelessness Reduction Act which will make sure more people get the help they need to prevent them from becoming homeless in the first place; £28 million of funding to pilot the Housing First approach for entrenched rough sleepers in the West Midlands Combined Authority, Greater Manchester, and the Liverpool City Region; investing £9 million by March 2021 to build new affordable homes; and a £20 million scheme to support homeless people and those of risk of homelessness secure homes in the private rented sector.

The Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Implementation Taskforce will be chaired by the Communities Secretary Sajid Javid, and the Advisory Panel supporting the Taskforce will be chaired by the Homelessness Minister Marcus Jones.

The government is already spending over £1 billion until 2020 in its commitment to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping.

Sajid Javid, Communities Secretary, said: “No one should ever have to sleep rough. That’s why this government is committed to halving rough sleeping by 2022 and eliminating it altogether by 2027.

“To break the homelessness cycle once and for all, we all need to work together, drawing on as much expertise and experience as we can. The Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Implementation Taskforce and the Rough Sleeping Advisory Panel, together with the three Housing First pilots, are important steps in making that happen.”

Marcus Jones, Homelessness Minister, said: “The Rough Sleeping Advisory Panel brings together experts with both the knowledge and determination to reduce homelessness and end rough sleeping.

“Working together with the charities and local authorities who have already achieved so much, we can fulfil our joint ambition to make sure we help some of the most vulnerable in society.”