Last week’s blog made a pointed effort to focus on the scale of the homelessness and rough sleeping crisis closer to home. We begrudgingly admitted that a lot of our coverage, particularly since the keys to Number 10 changed, had focused on the national picture and that we would aim to remedy that moving forward.
So just as you’d expect, the government hosted its first Downing Street rough sleeping summit, extended the period in which it would provide investment and almost double the amount of funding such causes would receive in the days following. Best laid plans.
On budget week, the first under the watchful eye of John Healey in Number 11, the government signalled its commitment to ending rough sleeping by pledging an additional £432 million, building on its initial £442 million investment and extending funds beyond March 2027 and through to the end of this Parliament.
The funding, and importantly the timeframe, provides an opportunity to deliver more sustained support for people experiencing homelessness.
It also lends credence to claims made by Burnham to end homelessness in his first speech outside Downing Street and to ensure that nobody is sleeping rough on the streets at Christmas.
For homelessness charities across Hertfordshire, the priority is ensuring this investment translates into safe accommodation and ultimately, lasting routes out of homelessness.
In the press release stating the PM was confident of fulfilling the Christmas pledge, details also emerged of plans to bring together businesses, charities, housing providers and local leaders to help tackle rough sleeping.
As part of this effort, the National Housing Federation will work with housing associations to identify at least 2,000 potential homes and bed spaces, including empty properties that could be brought back into use. Other organisations are pledging practical support, employment opportunities and specialist accommodation.
Another welcome announcement from the government no doubt, but I feel compelled to repeat a line that shows up in many a First People blog: It is important to distinguish between offering someone a route off the streets and ensuring they have a home where they can remain. Emergency accommodation, while a source of more immediate relief, should form an element of the aforementioned pathway towards more settled housing.
Success should ultimately be measured by people moving into suitable accommodation and then remaining housed.
The government’s focus on rough sleeping is important, and we and many other charities have previously called for substance to back up the rhetoric. This is a clear sign of intent from the Burnham government on the eve of its first budget.
It is arguable that while many people are still left wondering what is truly important to this government, amidst whispers of a general election and discussions around a future referendum, tackling homelessness and rough sleeping may well be the area where we have the most concrete answers. And that is laudable.
Doing the media rounds this week, Burnham reiterated the line of confidence stated in the press release. The government believes every rough sleeper will be able to move into accommodation by Christmas or will have been offered “support” as a means of prevention. This feels like a bit of a climb down from the government’s initial pledge to “get everyone in” by then, and if we are going to shout about the good stuff we need to hold to account when pledges change in this manner.
Perhaps this is reflective of the scale of the challenge, perhaps that is generous. But I don’t believe people interpreted the initial pledge to mean that everyone would have an eventual route off the streets. It is my belief people thought it would amount to getting everybody off the streets.
He told GMB this week that he has a “strong feeling” about putting the right standards “at the heart of the country” and once again said that England could not become a place in which people “just become used to walking past” rough sleepers.
The decision to extend investment to just shy of £900 million drew predictable criticism from the opposition, with Shadow housing secretary Katie Lam pointing to record homelessness statistics under Labour, and the PM’s previously failed pledge to end homelessness in Manchester.
We have alluded to the Manchester pledge extensively and as such, won't go into detail again, but when it was put to the PM this week, he said the reason figures increased after a marked drop was because Manchester was the “only place” offering a bed “every night”.
Burnham said he has realised that the only way to actually end rough sleeping was to ensure that everywhere is offering the same level of support. This is probably a fair assertion, but the previous failure to hit the pledge will continue to be a thorn in his side on this issue. Although, this may be a small price to pay if we are to become a country no longer used to walking past rough sleepers, as he suggests we should be.