Prime Minister Andy Burnham has announced that funding behind his pledge to offer every rough sleeper a bed this Christmas will be doubled at the Budget.
It comes as he prepares to host charities and local leaders for the first-ever rough sleeping summit at Downing Street on Monday. No10 said cash to be unveiled at Wednesday's Budget will commit a further £432 million to tackle rough sleeping, boosting total funding to £874 million.
Funding to deliver route off the streets before Christmas
The funding is intended to help deliver the ambition to offer people a route off the street before Christmas while sustaining support for years to come.
Mr Burnham, who outlined his mission to end rough sleeping during his first speech as PM outside No10, said: "Rough sleeping isn't a fact of life. It's a thing governments either choose to accept or don't. 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."
He added: "We can't do it alone. If we're going to end rough sleeping, we need every part of society behind us on this. So today we're bringing together businesses, charities and local leaders in Downing Street to make sure this is a solution that lasts."
Record figures and summit attendees
According to figures from last autumn, there were an estimated 4,793 people sleeping rough in England. The record high figure was a 4% hike on the previous year and a 171% increase on 2010 when the snapshot approach for estimates was first introduced. More than 40% of those sleeping rough on a single night last autumn were in London and the South East.
Chancellor John Healey added: "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."
Downing Street insisted urgent action is already underway to deliver on the promise of a bed for everyone sleeping rough, with the PM confident it will be delivered on. Housing Secretary Angela Rayner recently told The Mirror's new YouTube show, Sense Check, that the support would not be a "gimmick" for Christmas.
In a statement, she added: "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. This summit is about bringing every part of society together behind that mission. Ending homelessness is not only a moral imperative - it will make our communities and our country better off."
Charities call for housing benefit freeze to end
Some of those attending the meeting on Monday, including the charity Crisis, have called on the government to unfreeze housing benefit to prevent more homelessness. In their letter to the Chancellor, the charities said: "Unfreezing LHA would also give millions of low-income private renters some much needed breathing space."
LHA rates set the amount of housing benefit private renters can receive but have been frozen since 2024, resulting in the benefits failing to keep up with the soaring costs of local rents.
Other organisations attending the summit include the National Housing Federation, which will work with housing associations to identify at least 2,000 potential homes and bedspaces, while beauty firm L'Oréal Group will launch a social salon partnership with St Mungo's and Haircuts4Homeless. Virgin Media O2 will provide digital support to organisations working with the homeless, while other attendees include the Salvation Army, Ikea, the Morrisons Foundation and Comic Relief.
