Leading experts from homelessness charities and local government
met for the first time today as part of the government’s new
rough sleeping advisory panel and committed to work together to
help eliminate rough sleeping within a decade.
The new panel chaired by Homelessness Minister will help develop the
national rough sleeping strategy to halve rough sleeping over the
course of the Parliament and eliminate it altogether by 2027.
Made up of experts, charities and local government, the panel
will draw on their considerable experience and individual
successes to support the upcoming Ministerial Taskforce. This
will bring together ministers from key departments to provide a
cross-government approach to preventing rough sleeping and
homelessness.
The panel members agreed key priority areas including what works
best in terms of prevention such as housing-led approaches and
the most effective ways of intervening with someone already
experiencing rough sleeping.
Following the first panel meeting, said:
We cannot accept rough sleeping as a stubborn problem that will
always be with us.
That’s why we are providing over £1 billion of funding,
supporting those who are homeless and rough sleeping and
bringing in the most ambitious legislation in decades that will
mean people get the support they need earlier.
Tackling homelessness is complex, but no one should ever have
to sleep rough.
The new panel is clear we need to act swiftly to realise our
shared determination to help the most vulnerable in society and
eliminate rough sleeping for good.
The panel will meet monthly and will report back to the Taskforce
in the summer with a series of recommendations.
Among the key themes the panel will pursue are:
- Prevention activity to stop people from rough sleeping in the
first place.
- Programmes and interventions to target both the drivers of
rough sleeping and support vulnerable people at risk of rough
sleeping.
- Recovery and long-term support to help people maintain
sustainable tenancies.
- The role of wider society, business, the voluntary sector and
the general public to tackle street culture.
- Better data and clearer accountability to ensure the right
structures are in place at the local and national level.
Government action to date on tackling homelessness and rough
sleeping
- As part of the £1 billion,of funding we are providing £315
million to local authorities for their work on homelessness, and
an additional £402 million in Flexible Homelessness Support Grant
funding, which local authorities can use to work more
strategically to prevent and tackle homelessness pressures in
their areas.
- Government has also provided funding for the ‘No Second Night
Out’ approach which identifies new rough sleepers and helps them
off the streets immediately. Ministry of Housing, Communities and
Local Government (MHCLG)
has funded its national roll-out through the £20 million
Homelessness Transition Fund and most local authorities have
committed to the programme.
- Announced £28 million for 3 Housing First pilots in
Manchester, Liverpool and the West Midlands. The pilots will
support long-term rough sleepers off the streets and help them to
end their homelessness. Individuals will be provided with stable,
affordable accommodation and intensive wrap-around support. This
will to help them recover from complex health issues, for example
substance abuse and mental health difficulties and sustain their
tenancies.
- Government is investing £9 billion to build more social
housing, including council homes. This government is committed to
fixing the broken housing market and our Housing White Paper sets
out measures to do just that.
Members of the Rough Sleeping Advisory Panel
Chair
-
, Minister for Housing and
Homelessness, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local
Government
Homelessness sector
- Jon Sparkes, CEO Crisis
- Polly Neate, CEO Shelter
- Jeremy Swain, CEO Thames Reach
- Howard Sinclair, CEO St Mungos
- Jean Templeton, CEO St Basil’s
- Rick Henderson, CEO Homeless Link
Mayors
-
, Conservative Mayor for West
Midlands
-
, Labour Mayor for Greater
Manchester Combined Authority
-
, London Deputy Mayor
for London Housing and Residential Development
Local government and Housing Federation
- David Orr, CEO National Housing Federation
- Mark Lloyd, CEO Local Government Association
- Mark Meehan, Director of Housing for Croydon and Chair of the
London Council Housing Needs group
- Gillian Douglas, Bristol City Council
- Cathy Hadfield, Cornwall Council
International expert
- Peter Fredriksson, advisor on Housing First to the Finnish
Government
Sector experts
- Lord John Bird, founder of the Big Issue
-
, previous Minister for
Civil Society
Background
Terms of reference
The government aims to halve rough sleeping over the course of
the Parliament and eliminate it altogether by 2027.
The Minister for Housing and Homelessness, , will chair the Rough
Sleeping Advisory Panel which will support government to produce
a national rough sleeping strategy. The strategy will take action
to reduce rough sleeping now, and ensure the structures are in
place to eliminate rough sleeping by 2027.
Over the coming months the Advisory Panel will:
- meet with the Minister for Housing and Homelessness on a
regular basis to advise on how we can reduce the numbers sleeping
rough
- support the senior Ministerial Rough Sleeping and
Homelessness Reduction Taskforce
- support the rough sleeping team in MHCLG to
develop and test policy options
- test approaches, share feedback, best practice and studies
from across the sector to inform policy development
Rough Sleeping is a chronic issue and the Advisory Panel will
consider a wide range of interventions to ensure we take action
now. The Panel will also look at how the government can embed
integrated systems in the long term to ensure that no one has to
sleep rough. The review will take into account the experiences
and successes of previous interventions, and highlight good
practice.
The following lines of inquiry will be pursued:
- Prevention activity to stop people from rough sleeping in the
first place.
- Programmes and interventions to target both the drivers of
rough sleeping and support vulnerable people at risk of rough
sleeping.
- Recovery and long-term support to help people maintain
sustainable tenancies.
- The role of wider society, business, the voluntary sector and
the general public to tackle street culture.
- Better data and clearer accountability to ensure the right
structures are in place at the local and national level.
