Prime Minister launches national drive to get everyone in for Christmas

One month after making his first instruction as Prime Minister, Andy Burnham today (Wednesday 19 August) has announced the next steps in his national drive to end rough sleeping by announcing immediate action to offer everyone who needs it a route off the streets by Christmas, backed by increased funding of £442 million. 

New accommodation and support will be rolled out across England this winter, learning from innovative approaches put into place during the pandemic. 

Alongside emergency accommodation to end the need for rough sleeping, the programme, fully funded within MHCLG budgets, will offer practical help with housing, health and other needs, helping people build a more stable future. 

In addition, the Prime Minister has announced he will host a first of its kind national summit in the Autumn to bring together leaders from across society – from business, finance, charities, health, faith communities and more – to ask what role each of them can play in ending rough sleeping.

The new commitment to offer everyone a route off the streets this Christmas, along with boosted funding and a landmark summit, reflect the Prime Minister’s approach of bringing everyone together in a national drive to step up and play their part in ending rough sleeping – with everyone pulling in the same direction at a local level to make real change backed by funding at a national level.

The plans will not only change the lives of those being given somewhere to sleep and a foundation to rebuild their lives but have huge benefits for the whole country, as research from Crisis suggests preventing 40,000 people from becoming homeless for a year could save taxpayers around £370 million. 

Prime Minister Andy Burnham said:

No-one should have to bed down in a doorway or outside a station. But we’ve seen it for so long that it feels like Westminster has started to accept it.

I won’t accept it. That’s why my first instruction as Prime Minister was to end rough sleeping. And it’s why today we’re getting started with a national drive to get everyone in for Christmas.

We did it in the pandemic. We can do it again. But it needs all of us. Government will put the money in. But I’m asking leaders in communities and sectors across society to play their part locally too.

Let’s get people out the cold. And let’s bring back hope.

Housing Secretary Angela Rayner said:

When the Prime Minister pledged to end rough sleeping, we said we’d move urgently from words to action. Today we’re delivering on that promise.

This funding will help thousands of people leave the streets behind, move into secure homes and get the support they need to rebuild their lives.

Working alongside councils, mayors and charities, we’re backing local areas to tackle rough sleeping at its roots, giving people the security, dignity and opportunity they deserve, and restoring hope to those who have been let down for far too long.

The government is also confirming project allocations for this programme, which includes the investment into long term accommodation announced in July. 

As well as off the street provision, the funding will help local areas deliver more than 1,000 settled homes over the next three years, alongside intensive wraparound support to help people rebuild their lives. Areas facing the greatest pressures will receive the largest share of support, with communities all across England getting support to address rough sleeping in their area. Working alongside councils, Mayors will play a leading role in driving local action to end rough sleeping and making the decisions that are right for their communities to deliver help where it is needed most. 

Alongside funding allocations, the Government is publishing guidance to help local areas mobilise quickly and deliver a consistent route off the street offer this winter. The guidance will make clear the need to ensure adequate and accessible provision for women experiencing rough sleeping, recognising that women are often underrepresented in official statistics and may be at greater risk of violence, abuse, and exploitation. Guidance encourages local areas to consider single sex accommodation with specialist, intensive and trauma informed support, for victims of domestic abuse and sexual violence. This will support the government’s commitment to halve violence against women and girls in the next ten years.

Charities, faith groups and community organisations are at the heart of efforts to end homelessness. That is why, in addition to holding a first of its kind national summit bringing together leaders across society with a role to play, £8.4 million of the new funding is going specifically to the Ending Homelessness in Communities Fund. This takes total funding allocations announced today for 100 different projects to £47 million over three years, helping small and medium-sized organisations provide life-changing support to people experiencing, or at risk of, homelessness.

Together, these measures form the foundation of cross-government work to end rough sleeping at the earliest opportunity, combining immediate action this winter with lasting solutions to help people rebuild their lives for good.

Notes to editors: 

• In July, the PM announced £340m of funding for new support to bring forward settled accommodation for people sleeping rough long-term.

• Today’s announcement builds on this by confirming an additional £102m, which will be used to fund a range of support to provide immediate routes off the street this winter and beyond, including uplifting the Ending Homelessness in Communities Fund.  

• This exceptional £442m package is fully funded, from uncommitted MHCLG budgets.