Rough sleeping has almost doubled since Covid – CSJ
report
Rough sleeping has risen by 94 per cent since the pandemic,
according to new analysis.
A new report, No Place Like Home, from major think tank, the
Centre for Social Justice, is calling on the Labour Government to
fulfil their manifesto pledge to get Britain back on track by
rolling out the Housing First method across England.
The CSJ warns that the recent explosion in homelessness and rough
sleeping is “just the tip of the iceberg”. It goes on to
highlight how, last year, English councils spent £2.3 billion on
temporary accommodation. This is a crisis that is pushing
overstretched local authorities “to the point of
bankruptcy”.
This comes as, during the recent Spending Review, the Chancellor
committed to protecting last year's increase to homelessness
spending. An extra £233 million for homelessness was announced at
the Autumn Budget in 2024, taking total spending up to nearly £1
billion for this financial year.
The report says that this presents the Ministry of Housing,
Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) with “a unique
opportunity to ensure that this funding settlement is spent on
interventions that are proven to work.”
Pointing to successful pilots in the Liverpool City Region,
Greater Manchester and West Midlands, the CSJ says that “Housing
First has been shown to be the most effective and well-evidenced
intervention to end homelessness for Britain's most disadvantaged
and entrenched rough sleepers.”
In particular, the report focuses on how Housing First
is three and a half times more effective in enabling
people to secure and sustain permanent housing than conventional
homeless services. Across the pilots, Housing First had 84 per
cent of users sustaining long-term housing after
around three years of being on the programme.
Introducing the Housing First programme across England would take
5,571 people off the streets by 2029/30, a down payment on ending
rough sleeping. According to CSJ analysis, this would represent
more than a tenth of all rough sleepers.
It is also excellent value for money. For every £1 invested into
Housing First, up to £2 is returned to the
taxpayer and society, including through savings to
services like the NHS, homelessness outreach, temporary
accommodation and criminal justice.
Housing First combines access to permanent housing with
intensive, wrap-around support for people whose homelessness is
compounded by multiple and complex problems. It is different
from conventional interventions as it offers permanent housing
from the start, dependent on an individual's willingness to
maintain a tenancy. Housing is sustained by intensive support,
with staff having low caseloads of four to six service users,
rather than between the usual 20 and 40.
The CSJ suggest that a national Housing First programme would
cost £103 million over four years. The think tank proposes that
this is funded by scrapping relocation expenses for civil
servants, a 20 per cent reduction in the programme which moves
government departments into the regions, utilising the new
Transformation Fund and by allocating 5.5 per cent of the Rough
Sleeping Prevention and Recovery Grant for Housing First.
The surge in post-pandemic rough sleeping has in part been caused
by unprecedented levels of immigration. The CSJ find that the
number of rough sleepers from outside UK have more than doubled
since 2021, with Romania, Eritrea and Poland being the most
common non-UK countries of origin in London. The think-tank
argues that places on Housing First should be allocated to those
with the strongest UK and local connections.
A four-year Housing First programme would cost 3.4 per
cent of the annual cost of hotels for asylum seekers.
The report provides a blueprint of how the government should
design and implement a national Housing First programme. This
requires:
- National stewardship with a ringfence fund for Housing
First
- A monitoring framework which embeds a shared understanding
and vision for Housing First in England, accompanied by a yearly
check-up report published by MHCLG
- Encouraging the development and commissioning of combined
authority Housing First services
- Ensuring that the new Affordable Homes Programme and capital
funding streams for homelessness accommodation can deliver
long-term homes for Housing First
- A robust allocations policy which prioritises those with a
local and UK connection
- Engagement with addiction and employment support
Andy Cook, Chief Executive of the CSJ, said:
"Thanks to the leadership of Mayors Andy and , Housing First has emerged
as one of the most effective approaches to ending rough sleeping.
now has a unique opportunity
to champion a national rollout which would be a gamechanger in
the fight to end rough sleeping.”
Writing in the foreword, , Mayor of Greater Manchester,
said:
“Tackling homelessness is not just an economic imperative, but
also a moral mission.
“Housing First is simple but powerful. Safe and secure housing
with no conditions attached, meaning people seek support without
fear of become homeless again.
“If you set people up to succeed – they largely do.
“This report by the CSJ sets out a clear path for how the
government can support the scale up of Housing First across
England, so that every region can share in the success we've seen
here in Greater Manchester.”
, Mayor of the Liverpool City
region, said:
“Housing First is not just a successful pilot – it's a model for
reform. We've proven it works. Now we need to match that with
ambition, and make it the foundation of a national mission to end
homelessness for good.”
Steve Morgan CBE, Chairman of the Steve Morgan Foundation,
said:
“I know firsthand the importance of a stable home. Without one,
nothing else in life works, not your health, not your
relationships, and not your ability to find or keep a job. That's
why I believe Housing First holds the key to tackling rough
sleeping in England.
“At the Steve Morgan Foundation, we are proud to support this
work. We know the transformative impact of Housing First in
Liverpool. It is now time for the government to take this success
to the rest of England.”
ENDS
Media Contact
Matt Walsh
matthew@mippr.co.uk
07754786789
Notes to Editors
Please find the full report here.
There is no official figure for how many people sleep rough
across England over the course of a year. However, in London, the
CHAIN database tracks this number.
In 2021/22, CHAIN recorded 8,300 people sleeping rough in London.
In 2024/25, the figure was 13,200.
To estimate a national total, we used MHCLG rough sleeping
snapshot figures, which show what share of rough sleepers were in
London on a single night:
Assuming those same percentages apply to the full year, it
suggests that around 32,000 people slept rough in England in
2021/22, rising to 47,000 in 2024/25.
About the Centre for Social Justice
Established in 2004, the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) is an
independent think tank that studies the root causes of Britain's
social problems and addresses them by recommending practical,
workable policy interventions. The CSJ's vision is to give
people in the UK who are experiencing multiple disadvantage and
injustice every possible opportunity to reach their full
potential.
The majority of the CSJ's work is organised around five
“pathways to poverty”, first identified in our ground-breaking
2007 report Breakthrough Britain. These are: educational failure;
family breakdown; economic dependency and worklessness; addiction
to drugs and alcohol; and severe personal debt.
Since its inception, the CSJ has changed the landscape
of our political discourse by putting social justice at the heart
of British politics. This has led to a transformation in
Government thinking and policy. For instance, in March 2013,
the CSJ report It Happens Here shone a light
on the horrific reality of human trafficking and modern slavery
in the UK. As a direct result, the Government passed the Modern
Slavery Act 2015, one of the first pieces of legislation in the
world to address slavery and trafficking in the 21st century.
Other CSJ policy initiatives include Universal Credit,
Universal Support, and the Into Work Guarantee; Family Hubs;
Housing First; Severe Absence from School; and Prisoner Work
Placements.
Our research is informed by experts including prominent
academics, practitioners, and policymakers. We also draw upon
our CSJ Alliance, a unique group of frontline
charities, social enterprises, and other grassroots
organisations. These are curated by our CSJ Foundation
and have a proven track-record of reversing social breakdown in
some of the UK's most challenging communities, far beyond
Westminster.
The social issues facing Britain are chronic. In 2025 and
beyond, we will continue to advance the cause of social justice
and connect the back streets of Britain with the corridors of
power, so that more people can continue to fulfil their
potential.
