Rough Sleeping Funding to Double Ahead of Budget
Funding for the government's plan to give every rough sleeper in England a route off the streets by Christmas is set to double. No 10 has indicated that a further £432m will be added in Wednesday's Budget, on top of the £442m package Andy Burnham announced as one of his first promises after becoming prime minister in July.
The new money will extend support beyond March 2027 to the end of this Parliament, taking total investment to £874m. The announcement came ahead of the first Rough Sleeping Summit at Downing Street on Monday.
The commitment is that every rough sleeper will either be able to move into accommodation by Christmas or will have been offered support to prevent them sleeping rough. The latest official estimate counted 4,793 people sleeping rough in England on a single night in autumn 2025.
Summit pledges
More than 30 organisations, including businesses and charities, have pledged support through new partnerships. Initial funding has paid for specialist outreach teams and new bed spaces in Coventry, with further provision being rolled out in places including Plymouth and Camden over the coming weeks.
The National Housing Federation will work with housing associations to identify at least 2,000 potential homes and bed spaces, including empty properties that could be brought back into use. Questions remain over whether that is enough, and it is not yet clear how many of the 2,000 are self-contained units and how many could house several people.
Burnham's record in Manchester
Speaking to ITV's Good Morning Britain, Burnham said he was confident the aim could be met. "In the end, actually, it's cheaper to do that than to leave people sleeping rough going in and out of A&E, that's not good for anybody," he said.
As Mayor of Greater Manchester he pledged to end rough sleeping in the region by 2020 and set up the Bed Every Night scheme, which now provides more than 600 beds a night. Counts fell from 268 in 2017 to 125 in 2020 and 90 in 2021, then rose every year to 197 in 2025. Asked about the target he missed, Burnham said the numbers went back up because Greater Manchester was the only place offering a bed every night, so people came there. Ending rough sleeping, he said, only works if everywhere offers the same level of support.
Shadow housing secretary Katie Lam said rough sleeping had hit "record highs under Labour" and that Burnham was "throwing another £432m at a problem he failed to solve in Greater Manchester". Government figures show rough sleeping in England at its highest level since records began in 2010.
Homelessness groups welcomed the focus but urged ministers to go further. Leaders from 40 organisations signed an open letter calling for Local Housing Allowance rates to be restored so they reflect local rents. The Resolution Foundation estimates that more than 1.1 million low-income renters face gaps between housing benefit and rent.
Source: BBC News