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Government gives councils extra rough sleeper support


The Government is giving an extra £10 million to councils to find accommodation for rough sleepers throughout the lockdown period and ensure they are registered with a GP. Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick


said: “Our ongoing ‘Everyone In’ initiative is widely regarded as one of the most successful of its kind in the world, ensuring 33,000 people are safe in accommodation. We are now going further and focusing on GP registration of rough sleepers. The £10m is being used to accommodate


those living on the streets this winter but also to assist a drive in getting the homeless population registered with a GP.


The Government has said this will ensure more people can be protected from the Covid-19 virus and receive vaccinations in line with the Government’s priority groups.


During the first lockdown from March last


year, the Government launched its ‘Everyone In’ programme aimed at securing accommodation for all rough sleepers during the COVID-19 pandemic. More than 33,000 people were supported, with nearly 10,000 people moved into emergency accommodation and 23,000 moved into longer-term accommodation. “What is very welcome here is the two-


pronged approach: a continued commitment to getting everyone into safe accommodation but also now making sure people are registered with a GP so they can quickly access the vaccines. “We know through our services that people


facing homelessness often are not registered with a doctor’s surgery. Addressing this issue will be a life-saving intervention and a step towards ensuring people who are homeless are protected in the longer term.” Steve Douglas, Chief Executive of


homelessness charity St Mungo’s, said: “We and other homelessness charities called on Government to provide an urgent and decisive response to support those sleeping rough who now face the double threat of severely cold weather and a continued health emergency.”


Study finds officials hugely underestimated number of rough sleepers requiring help, but support saved 260 lives


eight times the number thought to exist by officials. The ‘Everyone In’ scheme to find accommodation


T


for rough sleepers was rapidly set up in late March 2020, in the early days of the crisis. It has been hailed as one of the main successes in the Government’s response and this assessment has been confirmed by a Whitehall spending watchdog. The National Audit Office found 33,139 people


were helped between March and November last year, whereas officials at the Housing Ministry were relying on a survey which had identified just 4,266 rough sleepers. The Everyone In campaign required local


authorities to immediately house rough sleepers and those at risk of rough sleeping to protect their health and stop wider transmission of Covid-19. A wide range of emergency accommodation was found at short notice, including thousands of empty hotel rooms. The NAO say that local authorities expect to


spend around £170m by the end of March this year on rehousing rough sleepers, with the programme paid for by Government grants, existing


20 | HMM February/March 2021 | www.housingmmonline.co.uk


he Government’s emergency support programme for rough sleepers helped more than 30,000 people during the pandemic –


homelessness funding streams and councils own resources. Roughly 23,000 people have been found long-term accommodation. Meg Hillier who chairs the Public Accounts


Committee, welcomed the success of the Everyone In scheme but warned the Government it must now find a new strategy if it is to achieve its goal of ending rough sleeping by 2024. “MHCLG, local authorities and the voluntary


sector all rose to the challenge. Their staff went the extra mile and may have saved hundreds of lives. But MHCLG can’t rest on its laurels and it was caught off guard by just how many people needed help. Now rough sleeping is on the rise again, and the pandemic is far from over,” she said. Covid-19 claimed relatively few lives among the


rough sleeping population in England during the first wave. The NAO report found there were 16 deaths among homeless people linked to the virus upto June last year, but overall an estimated 266 deaths were avoided. An MHCLG spokesperson said: “Our ongoing


Everyone In programme has protected thousands of rough sleepers from Covid-19, so we are pleased the National Audit Office recognises its achievement.”


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