Many thanks to those who have contacted me about ending rough sleeping.
Public safety and protecting the most vulnerable people in society from coronavirus has been the top priority of Government throughout the Covid-19 outbreak.
An emergency funding of £3.2 million has been provided by Government to help rough sleepers, or those at risk of rough sleeping, to successfully self-isolate. The funding will be available to all local authorities in England will reimburse them for the cost of providing accommodation and services to those sleeping on the streets to help them successfully self-isolate.
Government have also been working with councils to ensure all those who are sleeping rough are housed in safe accommodation as soon as possible and do not return to rough sleeping when the pandemic ends. Government has written to local authorities to set out that it was an imperative that rough sleeping and other vulnerable homeless are support into appropriate accommodation - local authorities should use government support to urgently procure accommodation for those people who are on the streets.
This Conservative Government has committed to providing £642 million over the next four years to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping. The funding committed as a part of the coronavirus response is in addition to the £492 million committed in 2020 to 2021 to support the Government's ambition to end rough sleeping in this Parliament, a £124 million increase in funding from the previous year.
