In an opinion piece in the Guardian, the Prime Minister has announced £442m for a national drive in England to ensure that no one is forced into rough sleeping this Christmas.
This represents an extra £102m on top of £340 of funding announced in July.
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He said “My first instruction as Prime Minister was to end rough sleeping. And it’s why today we’re getting started with a national drive to get everyone in for Christmas.”
Rough Sleeping Context
The number of rough sleepers has more than doubled since 2010 with 2025 hitting the highest number since the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government Rough Sleeping Snapshot began.
Significantly fewer people were sleeping rough during the pandemic as the Government ensured that everyone was offered a bed as part of the “Everyone In” efforts to stem to the transmission of Covid-19.
Homelessness charity Shelter report that 37,000 people were helped by the Government’s efforts up to August 2021.
According to the snapshot in 2025, 86% of rough sleepers are 26 and over, 82% are men and 65% are British. These percentages hold broadly steady over the years despite significant increases in the total number of rough sleepers.
When in February, the 2025 snapshot was released however Chief Executive of Crisis, a homelessness charity, Matt Downie, said “Today’s figures paint a bleak picture of the state of the nation. People are being forced to sleep on the streets at unprecedented levels, exposed to danger and violence. Thousands more people are then hidden from the official statistics, particularly women forced to sleep rough.” So the situation could be worse than the snapshot shows.
Prime Minister’s Pledge
On entering Downing Street last month, Burnham’s first pledge was to end rough sleeping. In July he pledged £340m saying This is something a government can fix if it chooses to. Today, I’m choosing to.”
That announcement said that local leaders would lead the delivery of a programme using local-led approaches that have helped tackle rough sleeping.
In today’s pledge, Housing Secretary Angela Rayner said Working alongside councils, mayors and charities, we’re backing local areas to tackle rough sleeping at its roots, giving people the security, dignity and opportunity they deserve, and restoring hope to those who have been let down for far too long.”
The Government is currently confirming project allocations for this money, which is funded from Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government Rough unallocated funds.
The funding will include provision for over 1,000 settled homes over the next three years.
Areas in England with the worst rough sleeping problems will be receiving the most funding.
£8.4 million of the new funding is going specifically to the Ending Homelessness in Communities Fund which funds small to medium sized voluntary, community and faith sector charities.
Final thought
One month into Burnham’s tenure, it’s unclear where the line between communications and governing strategies is.
Is this a re-announcement or the next step in fulfilling a pledge, or both?
Is this the sign of a Government committed to maintaining momentum on it’s pledges or committed to maintaining momentum in announcements? Or both?
Which side of the line the public perceives the Burnham project to be on will be a defining question of his premiership.
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