Overview
- The National Plan to End Homelessness, published Wednesday, sets targets to halve long‑term rough sleeping and to end the unlawful use of B&Bs for families by the end of this parliament.
- A new 'duty to collaborate' would require prisons, hospitals and social care to prevent people leaving public institutions into homelessness, with aims including halving first‑night homelessness after prison and stopping eligible hospital discharges to the street.
- Ministers highlighted record pressures, with 330,410 households owed help in 2024–25, 132,410 in temporary accommodation in June 2025, and 4,667 people sleeping rough in autumn 2024, while Shelter estimates 382,618 people are currently homeless including 175,025 children.
- Funding commitments include £950m for 5,000 temporary homes, £124m for supported housing to help more than 2,500 people off the streets, £50m for a 2025–26 prevention grant, plus £15m for innovation and £37m for voluntary and community services, with every council required to publish a local action plan.
- Charities welcomed the focus on prevention but warned the package falls short, with Crisis saying only about £100m appears to be new money, concerns over the continued freeze of local housing allowance, and no commitment to a national Housing First rollout.