Homelessness: Health Services

(asked on 20th January 2026) - View Source

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what funding has been allocated to addiction support services to support people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.


Answered by
Alison McGovern Portrait
Alison McGovern
Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
This question was answered on 30th January 2026

The Rough Sleeping Drug and Alcohol Treatment Programme funds drug and alcohol treatment and wraparound support for people sleeping rough or at risk of sleeping rough. It aims to improve access to treatment, including for those with co-occurring mental health needs. For 2025/26, the Rough Sleeping Drug and Alcohol Treatment Programme has provided £419,394 to East Sussex County Council. From 2026/27 to 2028/29, we have committed £185 million to the Rough Sleeping Drug and Alcohol Treatment Programme overall and East Sussex will continue to receive funding.

As set out in A National Plan to End Homelessness, we recognise the need for specialist mental health support for individuals who are, or are at risk of becoming, homeless. The NHS England Mental Health Rough Sleeping programme is supporting better access to specialist homelessness mental health support. Across the country, 37 multi-agency teams have developed services that have significantly reduced mental health crisis admissions to emergency departments as well as the length of stay in hospital.

The independent evaluation of the NHS England Mental Health Rough Sleeping Programme will be published shortly and we will engage with local system leaders to share the full findings. It is the responsibility of local systems to commission mental health services for their population based on their assessment of local need.

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