The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local
Government (James Brokenshire):
On 31 January, figures for the 2018 rough sleeping count were
published and showed a welcome 2% reduction in the number of
rough sleepers. While this decrease is encouraging, I know we
must maintain our focus on making sure nobody has to spend even a
single night sleeping on the streets. This Government are
determined to get to the root of the problem, unique to every
local authority, and tackle the complex range of reasons why
people sleep rough, helping to prevent it from happening in the
first place.
Early Adopters of the Rapid Rehousing Pathway
In December, we announced the locations of our first 11 Somewhere
Safe to Stay hubs, one of four elements that make up the rapid
rehousing pathway as announced in the rough sleeping strategy in
August.
Today, I am pleased to announce the allocation of funding to a
further 42 areas across the country for the three remaining
elements of the rapid rehousing pathway—navigators, supported
lettings and local lettings agencies.
Navigators are specialists assigned to rough sleepers, acting as
a single point of contact to support people into settled
accommodation, helping them access appropriate local services and
sustain a safe life away from the streets;
Local lettings agencies work to source, identify, or provide
homes and advice for rough sleepers or those at risk, supporting
them into affordable, settled accommodation;
Supported lettings support individuals with a history of rough
sleeping to help them to sustain their tenancies.
This funding will enable more than 80 navigators to work with up
to 1,600 people sleeping rough, provide up to £2.8 million for
supported lettings across 17 areas and up to a further £1.25
million for local letting agencies across nine areas. We estimate
supported lettings to support around 600 rough sleepers, with
local lettings agencies expected to make around 1,200 properties
available.
Local areas will be able to connect people with the right support
and sustainable housing to move them swiftly away from the street
and facilitate their journey to recovery, bringing us a step
closer to ending rough sleeping for good.
The full list of the 42 areas can be found at:
www.gov.uk/government/publications/rapid-rehousing-pathway-additional-42-early-adopters
