Early Release Prisoners: Preventing Homelessness and Rough Sleeping

Lord Bishop of Manchester Excerpts

Thursday 16th July 2026 Lords Chamber

[The Lord Bishop of Manchester]

My Lords, I too thank the noble Lord, Lord Farmer, for securing this important debate, not least because it brings together two of my long-term concerns—homelessness and the rehabilitation of offenders. I declare my interests as the chair of the Church Housing Association and as a trustee of the Clink Charity, which works within and beyond prisons.

Homelessness is both a cause and a consequence of offending. Breaking this cycle requires an understanding of individual vulnerabilities and a “whole community” approach to rehabilitation. Without long-term, joined-up thinking that provides prison leavers with the tools to live independently, prisoners are trapped in a cycle of reoffending. This undermines their intrinsic human value. From these Benches, I would add “their God-given value”. In St Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus notably refers to concern for prisoners as one of just a handful of criteria determining a divine judgment.

At the risk of repeating a cliché, prisoner rehabilitation requires a person-centred approach. It is a cliché that needs repeating, because all too often what we offer those leaving prison is a service-centred approach. The convenience of service providers and their organisational boundaries separate a human being into a series of disjointed attributes. They are homeless; they are unemployed; they are unskilled; they are unwell; they are unable to receive benefits in a timely manner. Different service providers then seek to respond to these distinct aspects, often in an ill-connected way. The person falls between the cracks. At the same time, the services that are provided in prison are too often separated from those provided outside.

All major life transitions are challenging, even if they are as welcome as being released from prison. If the transition into life on the out is not to lead to further offending, many of those released, especially those who have served sentences of more than minimal duration, will need accompanying over a period of months, if not years, by a consistent human presence, a trusted human presence, within and without the walls.

Homelessness is a deepening crisis. Recent Nacro figures show a 40% increase in the number of people released from prison into homelessness. People who leave prison are twice as likely to reoffend if they are homeless. Prisoners often lose their homes because they are unable to continue paying rent. Meanwhile, as the noble Baroness, Lady Gill, powerfully reminded us, releases on Fridays or otherwise out of working hours mean that support services are not immediately available. Who is immediately available is the drug dealer.

Prison leavers are left to fend for themselves in an unfamiliar world. Housing associations and other providers must be empowered to facilitate housing assessments while prisoners are still in custody and to identify those most at risk of falling through the cracks. They must be enabled to provide prison leavers with routes into stable accommodation and should be given adequate notice of release to allow them to do it effectively.

Housing provision is not much use if you cannot pay for it. The inability of claimants to begin a universal credit application while in prison pushes prison leavers into poverty immediately they are released. With the DWP more closely integrated into pre-release planning, prison leavers might be given the financial means to find accommodation from the day of their release. Not only would this better enable them to settle, it would leave them less tempted to reoffend in order to find the money to pay the rent.

While such measures could go a long way towards preventing homelessness in the short term, it is not enough to tackle the symptoms without addressing at the same time the root causes. To achieve lasting housing security, prison leavers must be given the skills, as other noble Lords have already said, to find steady employment and generate a reliable income.

The Clink Charity, where I serve as a trustee and with which the Minister is very familiar, provides training and rehabilitation support to people in prison or at risk of offending. Informed by their clients’ histories of trauma, unstable housing, exclusion from education and poor mental health, the Clink has now successfully trained over 5,000 people. It is a prime example of the joined-up working I am talking about. It means that prison leavers are treated as ends rather than means, and as people who are able to live lawful lives and make positive contributions to our communities. If any noble Lords want to know more about the charity, please come along to our flagship restaurant in Brixton Prison.

This debate gives us an opportunity to begin to shape what a more integrated provision for those leaving prison, especially the many facing homelessness, might look like. I know that the Minister has this very much in his own heart and I look forward to him responding to the debate in due course.