Housing and communities secretary Angela Rayner has said the government “can’t drag people off the streets” but has vowed that anyone sleeping rough will at least have the offer to be indoors by Christmas.
The government announced on Sunday that the budget is set to almost double the funding for tackling the problem. Chancellor John Healey will confirm a further £432 million to address rough sleeping in Wednesday's statement, bringing the total investment to £874 million. The plan, which offers accommodation and support, will run until the scheduled end of parliament in 2029. More details on where the money will come from will be set out by Mr Healey.
Reaching out to rough sleepers
“We can’t drag people into accommodation. What we can do is reach out and continue to reach out, meet them where they are, see what the challenges are,” Ms Rayner told the MEN. “Whether it’s a health issue, addiction issues, anxiety or other reasons why that person doesn’t want to come in, then we can keep offering and looking at how we can meet their needs.
“It’s about making sure the public can be confident that they will get an offer, but we can’t literally drag people off the streets.”
Ms Rayner, MP for Ashton-under-Lyne, praised Andy Burnham’s efforts to tackle homelessness while mayor of Greater Manchester. The figures fell but have now crept up again. The housing secretary put this down to a lack of joined up efforts nationwide.
“First of all, we didn’t have a national programme so people came to Manchester for the offer that we had,” she said, referring to the A Bed Every Night scheme created by Mr Burnham (ABEN), which created emergency accommodation and support for people sleeping rough.
“We had to make sure we had all of the support services. So we’re learning the lessons of that, and the national role means that we’ll be able to work with partners to cater for their needs.”
Funding and long-term plans
It is unclear how much Greater Manchester will receive with this extra funding. However, the region was given nearly £17 million from the £442 million that was committed to tackling rough sleeping earlier this year.
“One of the concerns that was raised with me is, if it’s a short term funding pot, trying to get the commitment to go forward is more difficult so we’ve listened to that and we’ve brought this additional funding forward,” said Ms Rayner. She said it was not just about getting people off the streets by Christmas but about planning for the long term.
On Monday the Prime Minister hosted a rough sleeping summit at Downing Street, bringing together private firms, charities and local leaders to consider ways of tackling the issue.
Organisations in attendance included 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 rough sleepers, while other attendees at the summit include the Salvation Army, Ikea, the Morrisons Foundation and Comic Relief.
Support beyond Christmas
Matt Downie, chief executive of homelessness charity Crisis, said support for rough sleepers needs to go beyond Christmas.
“Rough sleeping is a moral stain on our society. The average age of death for people experiencing homelessness is just 43 for women and 47 for men,” he said. “Ensuring that everyone has a route off the streets, with the support they need to rebuild their lives in the years to come, will therefore save lives.”
