Many of the First People Housing blogs have previously focused on the issues of homelessness, rough sleeping, male mental health and suicide rates. As a charity who provides opportunity and shelter to ex-offenders, rough sleepers and male victims of domestic violence, it make sense for us to highlight the last area where we focus our support.

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 September of this year, the Labour government implemented their early prisoner release scheme aimed at freeing space in prisons. The plan was initially proposed by Rishi Sunak’s Conservative government, however after the general election in July, Labour made tweaks and implemented the scheme last week. While it has received widespread backlash across the media, at FPH we certainly agree with freeing those jailed under minor offences and offering ex-prisoners opportunity and shelter.

Councils across England and prominent charity and media figures have called for the introduction of a National Men’s Health Strategy in the UK following the publishing of two damning reports. The reports conducted by The Local Government Association (LGA) which represents councils across England, and the preeminent charity Movember respectively, have outlined a worrying trend of preventable male deaths and a disparity between early death rates in affluent and deprived areas.

The weekly blogs written so far on the First People Housing website have centred on national coverage of the issues of homelessness, rough sleeping, mental health among males and domestic abuse. With the recent election and subsequent promises of change, it made sense for the blogs to focus on the national reality of the issues we aim to assist with.

First People Housing and many other charities have continually called on government action to help tackle homelessness and rough sleeping. The change of government in July has sparked optimism among advocates that real change can be carried out over the coming years to aid the efforts of advocates and charities across the space.  

Homelessness and rough sleeping is a rapidly deteriorating issue in England. While it may not dominate the headlines, the figures on the issue speak for themselves, with 2024 government estimates stating estimate that 3898 people were sleeping rough in England last year, an increase of over 25% from the previous year’s figures.

The UK has faced many political, societal and economic issues since the turn of the century. While many of the headline grabbers dominate the news cycle day in and day out, an underlying crisis in the country continues to fly under the radar: Mental Health Among Males.

The UK is in the early phase of a new government. After 14 years of Tory leadership, five Prime Ministers, a coalition, Brexit and a steep rise in homelessness and rough sleeping, the country voted for Labour to take power and for Keir Starmer to lead Britain for the next five years.