St Mungo’s has welcomed the Government’s progress update on the implementation of its Rough Sleeping Strategy and the commitment to publish an updated strategy and delivery plan every year.
The Housing Secretary, James Brokenshire, has today, 10 December, repeated the Government’s commitment to halve rough sleeping by 2022 and end it ‘for good’ by 2027.
Howard Sinclair, Chief Executive of St Mungo’s, said: “It is positive to see the aim of government is to tackle all the factors which lead to rough sleeping, the scale of which continues to be a disaster for this country.
“The Rough Sleeping Initiative money is making a difference by putting in place more help for people in need, on the streets now. But as we’ve said all along, short-term funding is just the start. More needs to be done to put long term housing and support in place to stop people returning to the street, and to stop people sleeping rough in the first place.
“I’m pleased the Government has committed to update its Rough Sleeping Strategy every year and hope future updates will start to address the issues still driving people onto the streets, such as the shortage of social housing and the benefits freeze.
“The ambition is clear, but the government’s focus and funding must be sustained to ensure the rise in rough sleeping is firmly shifted into reverse.”
ENDS
