The National Plan to End Homelessness was launched today.
Read our Chief Executive Pam Orchard’s response here:

I am very pleased to see the launch of the government’s National Plan to End Homelessness today.

When a plan, with money attached to it, is published, I think it is my responsibility to look for the opportunities to do something positive and constructive about a huge problem. The plan sets out a wide range of measures to tackle the very high numbers of people in temporary accommodation. I am extremely glad to see this – there is a lot to commend in what is being proposed. Others will comment with more insight than me on many aspects of the plan. I’m particularly interested in what it says on rough sleeping.

Supporting people with complex needs

The first thing I’m happy to see is the focus on long term rough sleepers with complex needs.13 of our clients died this year – some on the streets, some in palliative care, some in hostels and one in prison.

1,611 people died homeless in 2024. The average age of death for someone sleeping rough is just 44. If this doesn’t highlight how terrible and harmful it is as a way of life, nothing else will.

The scale of the problem

Rough sleeping in London is incredibly high, with official figures at 13,231 people in 2024/5 and every indication that it’s rising. We may express outrage at these numbers but the more we emphasise the scale of the problem, the more intimidating and intractable it can feel.

If we look at this differently, the population of London is about 9 million and this is one of the richest cities in the world. Only 0.15% of the population are sleeping rough.

The plan sets out action to address rough sleeping focused particularly on those who have slept on the streets the longest, with a target to halve long-term rough sleeping by the end of this parliament. In London, that’s about 5,000 people – the number who are living on the streets or frequently moving in and out of rough sleeping services. That is 0.05% of London’s population. With all the wealth, good will and people power we have here, this is resolvable.

New funding announced

The government’s measures provide significant resources to do this. Halving long term rough sleeping in London would mean moving around 2,500 people into sustainable, long term housing. With 33 local authorities in the capital, that’s an average of 76 in each (obviously numbers are distributed much less evenly, with Westminster taking the brunt and central London boroughs particularly affected).

Therefore the announcement of £124m for supported housing seems like a good start. This will open up accommodation for 2,500 across England and as London has a quarter of all of our rough sleepers, this will make a very noticeable dent in the situation if we get it right.

There’s a £15m programme to tackle long term rough sleeping, working with targeted areas to test innovative approaches and spread learning. The thing is – we all have a pretty good idea what works. People who sleep rough have often had a poor experience of existing services. That’s why they are still sleeping out. Moving people inside requires relationship building and trust. Many services are adopting “trauma informed care”, building a workforce of people with fantastic interpersonal skills, backed up by specialist psychologists. It works – so let’s invest in it.

Meeting people’s needs

Another thing that works is finding housing that meets people’s needs. I’ve never met a homeless person who wants to live in a mansion. They want to live in places which are affordable and manageable. They want carpets, furniture, cooking equipment and heating that works. They want to access a local GP. They want to friends and family nearby, with transport links that enable them to get out and about.

Often, people sleeping rough are cajoled inside, only to be offered a place which doesn’t reflect any of the things they want in a home. Would you want to stay somewhere in those circumstances? More resources for accessing accommodation will bring options and choices in better quality housing rather than the paucity that currently exists.

The importance of the voluntary sector

There is £37m for the voluntary, community and faith sectors. This is really important. Many people sleeping rough are cynical and mistrustful of their council’s response for one reason or another. This is where small charities, community groups and faith organisations can be very powerful. They deserve recognition and resources to do this work – it’s a first port of call to draw very excluded and mistrustful people into the wider system of help they desperately need.

Enforcement

There is a modest point on enforcement. People working in homelessness can get very jumpy about this. The police and councils are usually involved when rough sleeping and antisocial behaviour cross over i.e. tents, street drinking, drugs, begging, knife crime, phone theft, shoplifting.

Not all rough sleepers are criminals. Far more are the victims of crime and their personal safety is extremely compromised on the streets. There is a role for social care organisations working with the police and local authorities. It makes it a lot easier to work out who is a victim and who is a perpetrator so that the right action is taken. I’m pleased to see a commitment to sharing learning so that this work is done well, rather than simply being criticised or avoided when it is such a prevalent issue on the streets.

What the plan means for The Connection…

At The Connection, we see about 120 people every day. We want to move 300 people from the streets into supported accommodation by 2028. We also want people to get the treatment and ongoing help they need from staff and volunteers who they trust. This will make a significant contribution to halving rough sleeping in central London.
We will be working with local, regional and national government to make this happen now that this plan has been launched.

Ultimately, if we halve rough sleeping we will be halving the real harm it causes to real people every single day.

That’s 806 lives saved across England, around 200 in London and 7 at The Connection alone – it is worth it.