Government announces support for rough sleepers over winter

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  • £66 million funding will provide safe and warm accommodation over winter
  • Extra help including counselling, rehab and detox services to support rough sleepers with drug and alcohol issues
  • Part of government’s drive to end rough sleeping by the end of this Parliament, backed by £640 million invested each year

Rough sleepers will be helped into safe and warm accommodation and treatment services for drug and alcohol dependency this winter, supported by an extra £66 million the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities announced today (29 October 2021).

The support will help rough sleepers off the streets at a time of year when they face falling temperatures and give them an opportunity to turn their lives around by ending the cycle of addiction.

Building on the success of the Everyone In initiative, which supported 37,000 vulnerable people into longer term accommodation during the pandemic, this support will continue to help rough sleepers off the streets.

Today’s announcement will help to deliver the government’s commitment to end rough sleeping by 2024.

  • More than 60 councils have been allocated a share of the up to £52 million Drug and Alcohol Treatment Grant scheme for specialist support services for rough sleepers and those at risk, including one-to-one support and mentoring.
  • Voluntary, faith and community groups have been awarded grants from the £3.8 million Homelessness Transformation Fund to transform shared accommodation into COVID-secure, self-contained accommodation, giving rough sleepers safe places to stay.
  • Additionally, up to 3,500 rough sleepers will be provided with emergency accommodation, with areas most in need of support to tackle rough sleeping invited to bid for funding from the £10 million Winter Pressures Fund.

Rough sleeping has already reduced by over a third but the government will go even further with £640 million invested each year over the next 3 years to tackle the issue – a 85% increase in funding compared to 2019.

This builds on the £202 million for councils to continue to help people off the streets, funding 14,500 bed spaces for rough sleepers and 2,700 specialist support staff. This is on top of £112 million invested last year.

Those at risk of eviction are also being helped through the £310 million Homelessness Prevention Grant, with councils providing financial support or helping households find new homes. A £16 million pilot is also helping end the cycle of homelessness and hospital admissions by providing temporary accommodation, care and support for rough sleepers leaving hospital.

Minister for Rough Sleeping and Housing, Eddie Hughes MP said:

Rough sleepers are some of the most vulnerable people in our society and we must help them off the streets and end the plight of rough sleeping once and for all.

That means providing somewhere safe and warm for them to stay, and this funding will be a lifeline for thousands as the temperature drops this winter.

We are also helping those trapped in drug and alcohol addiction and giving them the stability they need to turn their lives around.

Minister for Care, Gillian Keegan, said:

It’s crucial we support people experiencing homelessness – particularly those wanting to break the cycle of addiction.

This additional funding will not only help those personally fighting drug and alcohol addiction, but it will also benefit their friends, families and the communities who are also impacted by the consequences of substance misuse.

More widely, we continue to support people without a home, including around access to vaccines throughout the pandemic, and recently announcing £16 million for pilot projects to support homeless people being discharged from hospital.

Kathy Mohan, CEO at Housing Justice:

We’re pleased that we have for the second year running, been able to provide substantial funding for faith and community groups to provide COVID secure emergency accommodation in their local area.

These smaller organisations are at the centre of many communities’ response to homelessness, often operating on tight budgets.

This funding provides an opportunity for extra beds, implementing new ideas and increasing the options available to people experiencing rough sleeping

Rick Henderson, CEO at Homeless Link:

As the winter months approach, it’s vital organisations have the capacity to provide single room accommodation to help reduce the number of people sleeping rough, while minimising the risk of spreading COVID-19.

Therefore, I am delighted to announce the list of grantees for this fund. I hope this winter provides a blueprint for future models of winter homelessness support, with single room accommodation becoming the norm.

Programmes and projects to benefit from the announcement include:

  • Leeds: funding a street-based psychologist, who refers rough sleepers to mental health and substance misuse services and a drop-in clinic in the city centre which also provides specialist support.
  • Westminster: funding the Westminster Rough Sleepers Drug and Alcohol Service, ensuring rough sleepers can access treatment programmes. Support is also provided for rough sleepers to access education, employment, or training once they have completed treatment.
  • Southampton: more staff are supporting those with complex needs and substance misuse issues and a clinical psychologist is making sure that those with mental health issues get the support they need.
  • Cambridge: funding a local charity working in partnership with the council to provide 20-bed self-contained rooms for a safe place this winter and route off the streets.
  • London: funding the All People All Places project that will provide support for 50 people in the winter months.

The Drug and Alcohol Treatment Grant is entering its second year and is already supporting people sleeping rough in 43 councils to access structured drug and alcohol treatment including counselling, detox and rehab services.

Rough Sleeping Drug and Alcohol Treatment Grant and Homelessness Transformation Fund funding breakdowns

Rough Sleeping Drug & Alcohol Treatment Grant

Local authority Funding awarded
Barnet £256,706
Bedford £263,596
Birmingham £652,329
Blackpool £345,562
Bolton £318,633
Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole £267,808
Bradford £376,213
Brent £273,000
Brighton and Hove £337,623
Bristol, City of £539,500
Cambridge £380,944
Camden £328,759
Cornwall £623,569
County Durham £91,960
Coventry £263,939
Croydon £555,500
Derby £166,576
Doncaster £173,443
Dorset £250,820
Ealing £601,384
Enfield £425,422
Hackney and the City £709,874
Haringey £343,473
Hillingdon £221,305
Islington £287,559
Kingston upon Hull, City of £321,739
Kingston upon Thames £366,554
Lambeth £404,187
Leeds £444,315
Leicester £409,420
Lewisham £309,120
Liverpool £589,104
Luton £228,000
Manchester £621,704
Middlesbrough £214,917
Milton Keynes £270,958
Newcastle upon Tyne £170,250
Newham £436,030
Northamptonshire £393,125
Nottingham £370,056
Oldham £254,564
Oxford £426,200
Peterborough £377,136
Plymouth £165,500
Portsmouth £497,047
Preston £383,458
Reading £435,061
Redbridge £286,428
Richmond upon Thames £185,000
Rochdale £141,650
Salford £383,259
Sheffield £376,378
Southampton £248,308
Southend-on-Sea £228,184
Southwark £336,469
Stoke-on-Trent £373,173
Tower Hamlets £563,051
Waltham Forest £183,455
Wandsworth £285,800
West Sussex £180,441
Westminster £1,238,968
Wigan £385,922

Homelessness Transformation Fund

Local authority Project Funding awarded
Bedford King’s Arms Project £144,393
Manchester Caritas Diocese of Salford £98,504
Westminster Cardinal Hume Centre £40,000
King’s Lynn and West Norfolk King’s Lynn Winter Night Shelter £81,199
Leicester One Roof Leicester £82,850
Medway Kings Church – Caring Hands in the Community £100,000
Ipswich Selig Suffolk Trust £85,952
Calderdale Christians Together Calderdale £157,596
Birmingham St Anne’s Hostel £68,640
Worcester Maggs Day Centre £92,437
Cornwall Cosgarne Hall £97,500
Harborough Falcon Support Services £92,930
Newham NEWway Project £95,388
Southwark Robes Project £92,420
Ealing Hope for Southall Street Homeless £42,350
Camden C4WS Homeless Project £95,388
Maidstone Maidstone Churches Winter Shelter £36,661
Manchester Barnabus £85,342
Hyndburn Maundy Relief £27,300
Canterbury Catching Lives £23,291
Medway Medway Night Shelter £48,620
Harrow FirmFoundation £64,689
Chesterfield Pathways of Chesterfield £42,140
Reigate and Banstead Renewed Hope £22,491
Leeds West Yorkshire Destitute Asylum Network £20,000
Cambridge It Takes A City £65,000
Bradford Hope Housing £50,000
Folkestone Folkestone Rainbow Centre £59,126
Peterborough Light Project £52,587
Haringey Highway of Holiness £92,092
Westminster West London Mission £66,082
Dover Dover Outreach Centre £30,000
Southwark The Outside Project £70,640
Bedford SMART CJS £84,983
Tower Hamlets This is GrowTH Ltd £96,298
Bromley Bromley Homeless £75,050
Luton NOAH Enterprise £79,982
Rugby Hope 4 (Rugby) Ltd £15,000
Camden women@thewell £17,300
Derby Derby City Mission Ltd £100,000
Waltham Forest Forest Churches Emergency Night Shelter £80,630
Gravesham Gravesham Sanctuary CIO £42,700
Bristol InHope £89,430
West Lancashire West Lancashire Crisis & Information Centre £62,037
Weymouth The Bus Shelter £29,484
Peterborough Hope Into Action UK £88,000
Hackney Hackney Doorways £14,280
Barnet Together in Barnet £95,388
Buckinghamshire Wycombe Homeless Connection £28,000
Greenwich Greenwich Winter Night Shelter £76,790
Eastbourne Kingdom Way Trust £18,788
Tameside ANEW Approach CIC £50,640
Bexley Bexley Winter Shelter £55,200
Swindon Swindon Night Shelter £36,995
Northumberland StopGap Supported Housing £32,000
Haringey & Enfield All People All Places £82,493
Reading Faith Christian Group £30,000

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