UK commits further £432m to end rough sleeping, taking total to £874m

Britain will commit a further £432 million to efforts to end rough sleeping, Prime Minister Andy Burnham and Chancellor John Healey said on Sunday, taking total investment behind the pledge to £874 million (Reuters).

The funding, which Healey will confirm in his first Budget on Wednesday, will extend support beyond March 2027 and through to the end of this Parliament, the government said (GOV.UK). It almost doubles the initial £442 million programme and is intended to give people a route off the streets before Christmas and support that lasts beyond winter.

Burnham made ending rough sleeping his first pledge on entering Downing Street in July, and said on Sunday he wanted every rough sleeper offered a route off the street before Christmas. He is due to meet local leaders, businesses and charities at the first-ever Rough Sleeping Summit at Downing Street on Monday to discuss the plan (Reuters).

“Rough sleeping isn’t a fact of life. It’s a thing governments either choose to accept or don’t,” Burnham said. “That’s why we’re doubling funding so that people aren’t just offered a safe route off the streets this winter but have that same support right through the rest of this Parliament too.”

Healey said no one should ever have to sleep rough, and that the doubled investment would give more people “a chance to break the cycle and end sleeping on the streets of our country — not just this Christmas, but for the years to come.”