(PUS for Rough Sleeping and Homelessness): At Spring
Budget 2020, the Chancellor announced funding for substance
misuse treatment and recovery services for vulnerable people
sleeping rough in England. Today, I am announcing the allocations
of this year’s funding, totalling £23 million across 43 priority
areas in England with the highest level of need, in addition to 3
pan-London projects. I am also announcing that this funding will
be backed by a further £52 million next year, enabling these
individuals to continue to access specialist support.
We recognise the importance of understanding the needs of people
sleeping rough so that they can access the right support. Through
the Rough Sleeping Initiative and our Everyone In response, we
have worked closely with local authorities to get a much better
understanding of this at a local level. We have also undertaken
national research over 2019-20, interviewing over 500 people with
experience of rough sleeping across different areas in England to
better understand their support needs and use of services. The
full report will be published on GOV.UK shortly.
From this research, we know that many people sleeping rough have
substance misuse support needs, and many face challenges in
accessing the support they need. These vital funds will provide
the specialist support needed, to enable these individuals to
rebuild their lives off the streets and move towards longer-term
accommodation. It will include evidence-based drug and alcohol
treatment, such as detox and rehab services. It will also fund
wraparound support which is key to engaging people in drug and
alcohol treatment services and improving access, such as
co-occurring mental health and substance dependence workers and
peer mentors. Public Health England’s regional teams and the
Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government’s expert
rough sleeping advisers have worked closely with each of the 43
local areas to develop their plans for this year’s funding.
This funding is a critical part of the Government’s commitment to
ending rough sleeping and to transforming the lives of some of
the most vulnerable in society. Backed by significant Government
support, these plans are part of over £700 million being provided
to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping this year. By
September, our ongoing ‘Everyone In’ scheme had successfully
supported over 29,000 vulnerable people; with over 10,000 in
emergency accommodation and nearly 19,000 provided with settled
accommodation or move on support.
The recently announced £15 million Protect Programme and our
Winter Support Package, which includes a £10 million Cold Weather
Fund and a £2 million Winter Transformation Fund will build on
the continuing successes of ‘Everyone In’ and ensure that we
protect the most vulnerable from the dangers of Covid-19 over the
coming months.
Meanwhile, our Next Steps Accommodation Programme has made
available the financial resources needed to help prevent as many
of those accommodated during the pandemic as possible from
returning to the streets.
We are also putting in place an unprecedented level of support to
tackle homelessness and rough sleeping over 2021-22 with an
additional £254 million resource funding. This takes total
resource funding in 2021-22 to £676 million, a 60% increase
compared to the 2019 Spending Review.
This funding will be supported by wider Governmental work to
improve outcomes for the most vulnerable people in our society.
For example, the Government recently announced £46 million for a
new programme - Changing Futures - to provide better outcomes for
adults experiencing multiple disadvantage, including people
experiencing homelessness and substance misuse support needs. The
prospectus for the Changing Future Programme, asking for local
area expressions of interest, was made available on 10 December.
We are working at pace to prepare for the delivery of next year’s
funding and will set out further detail about how areas in
England can access this additional support under the Substance
Misuse Programme shortly.
I encourage all relevant partners and local authorities to
consider how they can best use the available support to protect
the most vulnerable.
