Ahead of the Rough Sleeping Summit at Downing Street, the Prime Minister & The Chancellor and MP for Cities of London and Westminster Rachel Blake visited The Connection at St Martin’s and St Martin in the Fields Charity, meeting people with experience of homelessness and hearing from frontline staff about the challenges facing those sleeping rough in London and across the UK.
The visit comes as The Connection begins delivering its Winter intensive engagement hub, funded as part of the government’s commitment to end rough sleeping. The intensive engagement hub provides emergency accommodation at its Day Centre in Adelaide Street to some of Westminster’s most entrenched rough sleepers with highly complex needs. The hub runs from October until the end of January and during this time, keyworkers from The Connection will work with rough sleepers to engage with support services. The Intensive Engagement Hub has previously seen a positive move-on rate of 74%.
The visit also coincided with St Martin in the Fields Charity launch of the annual homelessness frontline network survey.
During the visit, the Prime Minister met people staying at The Connection and heard first-hand about their experiences of homelessness. He also spoke with frontline staff about conditions on the streets, the pressures facing services, and what is needed to help people leave and stay away from rough sleeping for good.
Pam Orchard, Chief Executive of The Connection at St Martin’s, said:
“We welcome the commitment that everyone sleeping rough will be offered accommodation this Christmas. Our experience during severe weather emergencies and the pandemic showed that providing a safe place to stay can be an important first step in reaching people who may have been sleeping rough for many years.
“Many people sleeping rough have experienced significant trauma and need time, trust and the right support to rebuild their lives. Lasting change depends on stable housing, strong support services and skilled frontline workers who can help people move forward at their own pace.”
Duncan Shrubsole, Chief Executive of St Martin’s Charity, said:
“It was a pleasure to welcome the Prime Minister to hear firsthand the challenges homelessness workers face and what they need to overcome them.
The visit gave us the opportunity to share the insights from our work supporting and championing frontline workers. Frontline workers have the vital experience and expertise to support people out of and away from rough sleeping and homelessness this Christmas and long term. They see the system first hand every day and they know what works but also what is getting in the way. Too often they are facing real challenges in securing the accommodation, services and support those they are working with need. It was great to hear the Prime Minister’s commitment to not just helping people come inside this Christmas but tackling the longer-term issues and barriers to help people move on from rough sleeping, and those supporting them, for good.
It was refreshing to have the Prime Minister acknowledge that it is frontline workers who have the answers and reiterate his commitment to doubling funding this winter.”
ENDS
About The Connection at St Martin’s
The Connection at St Martin’s works with people sleeping rough to find a way off London’s streets and towards a place to call home. In 2025-26, we helped 1,501 people on their journey away from homelessness.
We get to know every person we work with, taking the time to understand their needs, strengths and hopes for the future, and finding practical solutions that help them move forward.
The journey away from homelessness can be long and challenging. We stick with people for as long as it takes, supporting them to find their own way home. For media enquiries contact Francesca Geach at media@cstm.org.uk or 07483 567450.
About St Martin in the Fields Charity
St-Martin-in-the-Fields | UK homeless charity (smitfc.org)
St Martin-in-the-Fields Charity is a homelessness charity that works UK-wide and year-round. Our vision is for everyone to have a safe place to call home and the support they need to keep it. Our work extends across all four nations – at the individual, community, regional, and national levels. To achieve our vision, we work in three key areas. We help individuals directly into new accommodation through the provision of grants, we support frontline workers in their roles to achieve the best outcomes for those they support, and we test, develop and share solutions to key issues and build support for them with the public and policymakers.
To inform our work, since 2017 we have undertaken a regular survey of frontline staff working with people experiencing homelessness; to understand challenges they face, and to identify and address gaps in support provision for people experiencing homelessness. This year we undertook the 9th such survey.
For media enquiries contact Jane West at jane.west@stmartinscharity.org.uk
Together our two charities are experienced in tackling rough sleeping at its most challenging and in preventing and resolving homelessness right across the country.