www.communities.gov.uk

New action plan to tackle persistent rough sleeping

Published 8 April 2008

A new ambition for all hostels to provide access to support, training and employment within the next three years to help end persistent rough sleeping, was announced today by Housing Minister Iain Wright.

The Minister published an action plan to reduce rough sleeping to as close to zero as possible, with new measures to help those who have remained entrenched on the streets.

He announced a new aspiration for hostels to provide access to training and employment opportunities, supported by the £160 million the Government has put in place to refurbish hostels and improve their services by 2011.

The Minister invited stakeholders involved in rough sleeping to join in the discussion on a package of measures to underpin the strategy, including:

  • A renewed drive to identify and engage with the most persistent rough sleepers to get them off the streets and into a more stable environment, minimising the risk of falling back into old routines and old patterns of dependency. Groups such as older drinkers have historically been harder to reach and new models may be needed to get them in off the streets, such as personalised support
  • Universal access to skills programmes in hostels to develop an individual's talents and boost their confidence in stepping up and out of insecurity and dependency. The Government's £160 million investment in projects to reduce rough sleeping also includes an academy in London, which will provide former rough sleepers with opportunities to develop skills in areas of employment as diverse as restaurant management to cookery skills
  • A new London homeless taskforce, bringing together the Government, the voluntary sector and local authorities to better tackle rough sleeping. These key players will help to put the right solutions in place for people with complex needs, preventing them slipping through the net and back onto the streets. It will have a pan-London focus to effectively tackle rough sleeping across the capital
  • The provision of 500 units of private rented accommodation in London to enable those who are ready to move out of hostels, but still need some level of support, to live independently. This will free up hostel spaces for those coming in from the cold and help prevent hostels 'silting up' with those who are ready to make the next step
  • Increased working across government to ensure the one stop shops can provide tangible, practical support across a range of homeless issues. As well as providing skills the hostels will provide specific support for those in need, for example making sure that those with dependencies such as drugs or alcohol have access to the services they need.

Whilst huge progress has been made reducing the number of rough sleepers from 1,800 in 1997 to around 500 on any given night, the challenge now is help the remaining persistent rough sleepers make a permanent move away from the streets, especially in London. Some have been in a  'revolving door of homelessness'  entering hostels dozens of times a year but coming back onto the streets only days later. Iain Wright said:

"Over the last ten years, we've seen major reductions in the number of rough sleepers. But we can do more to drive this figure down further.  Our ambition should be to get rough sleeping down to as close to zero as possible. We need to change all hostels from simply beds for the night into springboards of opportunity, places where an individual can learn skills that will help them back into a stable home and a stable working life."

Many hostels are already operating successful training schemes ranging from cookery and mechanical repairs, to IT and decorating, which are helping rough sleepers away from the streets. But the Government wants to see these kind of services more widely available.

The Government's "Places of Change" programme will develop hostels from simply a roof over one's head to places where people can achieve real and lasting change.  These modern 'one stop shops' have little in common with the 'homeless hostels' of old; as well as beds they will provide support for the needs of all homeless groups, from those who may have dependencies such as alcohol or drugs to women fleeing domestic violence.

Notes to editors

1. This year marks the tenth anniversary of the Social Exclusion Unit report into rough sleeping, which set out the government's original strategy to reduce rough sleeping by at least two thirds.

2. The discussion paper can be found at www.communities.gov.uk/publications/housing/roughsleepingdiscussion.
The minister called for local authorities, the voluntary sector and others involved in dealing with rough sleepers to come forward and contribute to the discussion paper that will form the basis of the updated strategy. 

3. The 'Places of Change' funding allocations were announced in March 2008 after a round of bidding.

4. The Places of Change Programme (PCP) is a 3 year programme which will run from 2008 to 2011. It builds on the success of the 2005-08 Hostels Capital Improvement Programme (HCIP). PCP aims to continue to improve the services available to rough sleepers so they can make the transition from the street to a settled home; to increase the number of people moving on from their hostel or homelessness service in a positive way; and to increase the number moving into education and employment. For more information please see http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/housing/placeschange

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