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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the number of people who reach the point of rough sleeping.

No one should ever have to sleep rough. That is why this Government has committed to halving rough sleeping by 2022 and ending it altogether by 2027.

In order to make an immediate impact, in March this year we announced the new Rough Sleeping Initiative which has allocated £30 million this year at 83 local authorities with high levels of rough sleeping. This is funding over 500 new dedicated homelessness workers and will provide an additional 1,750 bed spaces.

Last month the Government published the Rough Sleeping Strategy which, building on the work of the Rough Sleeping Initiative, sets out the initial plans to achieving the manifesto commitments. We have worked across Government, with the homelessness sector and local areas to set out our ambitious long-term vision for how both local and central government will work together, based around three core pillars: Prevention, Intervention and Recovery, with a focus on moving to a 'rapid rehousing' approach. The aims of the pillars are to prevent people from rough sleeping, intervene when individuals find themselves in this position and aid whatever recovery they need to help sustain suitable accommodation solutions.

The Rough Sleeping Strategy details £100 million of investment over the next 2 years to tackle rough sleeping. Some of the main elements include an additional £45 million for the Rough Sleeping Initiative in 2019/20, up to £17 million in funding for Somewhere Safe to Stay pilots, up to £19 million to deliver a new supported lettings fund, £5 million to help local areas take action on migrants who are sleeping rough and £10 million funding for rough sleeping navigators.