Housing First works for the people who needs most support
Patrick Hurley is the Labour MP for Southport
Homelessness in the UK is a symptom of the long-term problems of the country – a Tory government that made a complete mess of running the country over 14 long, difficult and progressively worse years; and a Labour government that hasn’t yet managed over its 18 months in office to sufficiently get to grips with the overwhelming catastrophic failure of every branch of the state that it inherited in July 2024. This week’s publication of the government’s National Plan to End Homelessness is both a very welcome statement of intent and also simultaneously an acknowledgement that government has not previously been bold enough.
New official figures show that 9,574 people were sleeping rough in July 2025, an increase of 94 per cent compared with July 2021. This confirms that current approaches are not improving the situation and that many people are becoming trapped in homelessness rather than helped out of it.
Several pressures are driving the rise. The housing shortage and the cost-of-living crisis remain major factors, exacerbated by the freeze to Local Housing Allowance and the Benefit Cap. The government has great ambitions relating to building more homes, with £39bn promised for social and affordable housing, but the scale of the challenge is daunting.
The number of long-term rough sleepers reached a record level in September. A total of 3,397 people were seen sleeping rough in three or more of the previous twelve months. This group has grown by 28 per cent since September 2023. Long-term rough sleepers are now the largest group of people sleeping on the streets. This indicates that homelessness for many has become an ongoing condition, not a short-term crisis. The nature of the problem is different than it was in the 1980s and 1990s. And so that means that the nature of the solution needs to be different too.
Thankfully, there is now clear evidence of what works better. Some of this is included in this week’s National Plan – great proposals such as national targets, a move from crisis response to prevention, an end to families housed in B&Bs in all but the most exceptional emergencies, additional funding for rough sleeping services, and targeted support to reduce long-term rough sleeping.
A report from the Centre for Social Justice, No Place Like Home, calls for a national roll-out of Housing First. This is an approach based on providing people with secure housing as the starting point, with support offered rather than required. The report describes Housing First as the most effective and well evidenced intervention for people with the most complex needs.
The results support that claim. Housing First is over three times more effective than traditional services at helping people secure and sustain permanent housing. Across pilots in Liverpool City Region, Greater Manchester and the West Midlands, 84 per cent of users were still in long-term housing after around three years on the programme. These are individuals who typically have long histories of rough sleeping, contact with the criminal justice system, poor physical and mental health, and repeated failed attempts at temporary accommodation.
Political leadership has also come from those areas. Andy Burnham in Greater Manchester and Steve Rotheram in Liverpool City Region have both backed Housing First and demonstrated how it can work in practice. Their advocacy shows that the policy is not theoretical and that it can be delivered in partnership with local authorities and voluntary sector providers.
The economic case for Housing First is also strong. The CSJ calculates that rolling out the programme across England would take over 5000 people off the streets by 2030. It finds that for every pound invested, up to two pounds is returned to taxpayers and society due to reduced pressure on the NHS, temporary accommodation, homelessness outreach and the criminal justice system. A national programme would cost just £100 million over four years. By way of comparison, this is what the NHS spends every four hours.
The argument is that these changes would reflect a Housing First approach in both policy and in priorities, particularly when it comes to housing homeless veterans. The principle is that the goal should be to prevent rough sleeping where possible and resolve it quickly where prevention has failed, rather than allowing people to become entrenched in it.
Public opinion appears to support a stronger approach. A poll for the Royal Foundation found that nearly half of adults agreed with the statement “Homelessness is a major problem and needs to be given top priority,” with more agreeing than disagreeing.
Taken together, the scale of the problem, the evidence from pilots and the level of public concern suggest that Housing First should be a central part of the forthcoming national homelessness strategy. It offers a clear and practical response to rising rough sleeping, backed by data and by examples within the UK. It treats people as residents rather than temporary cases and provides the stability that makes recovery more likely.
The UK has already tested Housing First and shown that it works for the people who most need support. The question now is whether the country will build on that progress and adopt a national programme that reflects both the urgency of the situation and the potential for lasting change. If the goal is to reduce rough sleeping visibly and meaningfully, starting with a home is the most direct route to doing so. Government has this week signalled its seriousness of intent to reduce homelessness; now is a great opportunity to ramp that seriousness up and roll out the policies that will make the most difference.
Left Foot Forward doesn't have the backing of big business or billionaires. We rely on the kind and generous support of ordinary people like you.
You can support hard-hitting journalism that holds the right to account, provides a forum for debate among progressives, and covers the stories the rest of the media ignore. Donate today.