Burnham doubles funding to get rough sleepers off the street by Christmas

The prime minister has pledged a further £432m towards his goal of offering everyone sleeping rough a route off the street before Christmas.

This takes Andy Burnham’s rough sleeping investment to £874m, having reached £442m in August.

The additional funding will be officially set out in the budget later this week and aims to extend support to the end of this Parliament by providing continuity for frontline services and helping people move into settled accommodation.

The funding boost announcement coincided with the first ever ‘Rough Sleeping Summit’ hosted at Downing Street yesterday (Sunday), which saw businesses, charities, housing providers and local leaders make pledges towards the goal of ending rough sleeping in the UK.

“Rough sleeping isn’t a fact of life. It’s a thing governments either choose to accept or don’t.  

“Well I don’t accept it. 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.   

“But we can’t do it alone. If we’re going to end rough sleeping, we need every part of society behind us on this. So today we’re bringing together businesses, charities and local leaders in Downing Street to make sure this is a solution that lasts,” said Burnham.  

At yesterday’s summit, the National Housing Federation pledged to work with landlords and councils to identify at least 2,000 potential homes and bedspaces, including empty homes, for people moving off the street.

Virgin Media O2 promised to provide new support around devices, data and connectivity, in partnership with charity Refuge, to help women and their children affected by domestic abuse and experiencing homelessness stay connected to services and support. 

ReGenerate, a social impact charity, said it would partner with Liverpool City Region, in collaboration with the mayor’s new homelessness taskforce, to find ways in which businesses can tackle homelessness, such as creating pathways into employment.

IKEA, L’Oreal Group, Morrisons Foundation, Comic Relief, Landsec, over 30 organisations from the impact economy and a coalition of philanthropists also pledged support for those experiencing homelessness.