Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of rough sleepers suffer with mental ill health.

The information requested is not centrally held.

The Government recognises that having stable and appropriate housing can be invaluable for people living with a long-term mental health problem. We also know that rough sleeping can exacerbate existing, underlying mental health conditions and can result in a mental health crisis.

The Department of Health and Social Care is working with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and others to address issues around housing, homelessness and rough sleeping that affect people with mental health problems.

The Government is committed to halving rough sleeping by 2022 and ending it by 2027, and the Department of Health and Social Care has worked closely with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to ensure that the Rough Sleeping Strategy, which was published in August 2018, includes proper consideration of the needs of those with mental illness. As part of the Rough Sleeping Strategy, the Department of Health and Social Care has committed to provide up to £2 million in health funding in 2018/19, to test models of community-based provision designed to enable access to health and support services for people who are sleeping rough. This will include services to support people with both mental ill health and substance misuse issues.