Prime Minister Pledges to House All Veterans in Need

For the first time in 15 years, the keynote speech at the Labour Party Conference was delivered by the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. It was a home game for the PM, with a typically optimistic crowd of members, colleagues and supporters drowning his soft spoken tone with claps and cheers seemingly (and annoyingly) interminably throughout the 54 minute speech. 

In the aftermath of the speech, most of social media has zeroed in on what The Times describe as an “egregious gaffe” - accidentally calling for the return of sausages instead of hostages in Gaza. In addition, respected journalists including Alexandra Rogers of Sky News have posited that the speech was filled with far more rhetoric than policy. 

While The Times may believe that the only thing the speech will be remembered for, is the obvious slip of the tongue, and reporters may (correctly) allude to the heavily rhetorical nature of the speech, one thing that undeniably surprised the public was the commitment to Homes for Heroes.

In what he described as “another injustice hiding in plain sight in our streets, in every town and city in this country”, the PM pledged the Labour government would not stand by and do nothing while those who fought for the country do not have a safe place to sleep on nightly basis. Starmer proudly proclaimed that the government would “repay that debt” and house all veterans in need of shelter. The policy does not solely focus on veterans as young care leavers and domestic abuse victims will also be able to apply for social housing in any local authority in the UK in perpetuity.

It is safe to say, this announcement did not only surprise advocates for ending homelessness and rough sleeping, it also caught many journalists off guard as it was one of the most highlighted areas across the traditional media outlets following the speech.

So what should we make of this surprise pledge? As is often the case, this announcement evokes feelings of positivity and negativity.

Firstly we should underscore the positives. The fact that the PM would highlight the fundamental issue of homelessness in his most important and scrutinised speech as the leader of the country to date, suggests the issue is important to the government. There are a plethora of domestic and international issues on the government agenda at this time and the willingness to make a pledge of this magnitude is encouraging for advocates in the sector. 

Furthermore, the government has began to make progress on policies tangential to ending the homelessness crisis in the UK. According to The Guardian, Ministers will bring the renters’ rights bill for its first reading in the Commons this week. This has been long-delayed and heavily discussed in the FPH blog previously. The reason it has been so heavily alluded to by FPH and other charities in the space is because it is a bill that can directly contribute to ending the crisis of homelessness and rough sleeping in the UK. 

It has been heavily suggested that if successfully passed, the bill will outlaw section 21 evictions, where a landlord can evict a tenant for no reason. It will also include more protections for tenants and implore landlords to give further notice to tenants, allowing more time to for people to apply for social housing and ultimately avoid experiencing homelessness.

While there is more to be done, this is unequivocal progress after only three months in power.

Now for the negative view. In the speech, the issue of homelessness was mentioned once in just under an hour. As discussed, there are many crises facing the government and the country at this time, however to only refer to the problem once in 54 minutes is certainly underwhelming. Moreover, and perhaps more importantly, the speech did not inspire confidence that the government fully understand the issue at hand. 

In the speech, the PM alluded to veterans, young care leavers and domestic abuse victims as the target audience of the pledge.

“We can make the very same promise to other people at risk of homelessness. Young care leavers. Victims of domestic abuse. They will have the security they deserve. They will have a roof over their head. Because Britain belongs to them”.

As a charity providing shelter to male victims of domestic abuse, this is obviously the kind of rhetoric we would like to see in a Prime Ministerial pledge. Despite this, it seems to suggest the government is taking a narrow-minded approach to the problem.

According to The Big Issue, an estimated 3,898 people were counted as sleeping rough across England on a single night in autumn 2023. Additionally, a more recent London-only Combined Homelessness and Information Network (Chain) annual count showed 10,053 rough sleepers were spotted on London’s streets between April 2022 and March 2023.

I have not met all of these people, however I would be confident in positing that a large portion do not fall into the categories of people Starmer suggests are at risk of homelessness. For instance, a 2023 study from the University of York suggests that disabled people may account for 39% of the homeless population in the UK, despite the fact that they represent 22% of the total population of the country. This suggests they are a group of people particularly at risk of experiencing homelessness. 

There are other groups of people at risk including those leaving prison and people from minority ethnic backgrounds, however they did not get a mention in the speech.

The fact that the wider issue of homelessness has gained significant media attention in the aftermath of the PM’s Conference Speech is undeniably positive and it shows that the issue is important to the government. We hope that in addressing the issue, the government does not take an insular view of the problem and arrives at the conclusion that many people are risk of experiencing homelessness, not merely the aforementioned groups.