CIH welcomes national drive to get everyone off the streets for Christmas

The Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) welcomes the Prime Minister’s national drive to get everyone off the streets for Christmas and the associated £442 million package to support people into settled homes. 

This is a welcome and urgent intervention, and we hope it marks the beginning of a long-term commitment to ending homelessness and rough sleeping. That must include additional investment in broader housing system, in particular, in supported housing and by unfreezing Local Housing Allowance to reflect the reality of private rents.  This would help people access and retain homes and reduce pressure on overstretched councils. 

Everyone deserves a safe, secure place to call home. We know that the political leadership now being shown by the new Prime Minister can make a real difference to tackling homelessness. Bringing organisations together for a national summit on rough sleeping in the autumn, alongside this new funding, could help galvanise the sector and deliver the kind of collective action we saw through the Everyone In programme. 

However, the government must also learn the lessons from Everyone In and ensure that the political will and investment continue long after Christmas.  One of its key successes was ensuring help was universal, including those subject to No Recourse to Public Funds or without verification of bedding down.  

However, evidence from Shelter in 2021 showed that, six months after the launch of Everyone In, more than three-quarters (77%) of those initially accommodated had not moved into settled accommodation. This underlines the need to ensure that emergency action is matched by sufficient long-term housing and support. 

Gavin Smart, CIH Chief Executive said: “Today’s announcement of the Prime Minister's national drive to end rough sleeping is welcome and important. This kind of clear political leadership can be transformative. Although this much needed short-term intervention will provide immediate relief, ending rough sleeping sustainably requires action to address the structural causes of homelessness: the shortage of social and supported housing, affordability pressures in the private rented sector, and the lack of secure, ongoing revenue funding for the support people need to sustain tenancies and flourish.” 

CIH welcomed the National Plan to End Homelessness at the end of last year and welcomes this renewed focus on ending rough sleeping. Local authorities, housing associations and supported housing providers are ready to support the Prime Minister in his goal, but they need the resources to deliver statutory services, ongoing support, to work together in effective local partnerships and provide stable, good-quality housing. 

CIH looks forward to working with the new government and our members to ensure that everyone is in by and beyond Christmas.