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Government cuts have led to ‘£1bn hole’ in homelessness services, charities warn
Government cuts have left local services for single homeless people with a £1bn annual funding gap, according to new research commissioned by two major homelessness charities.
St Mungo’s and Homeless Link have warned that dwindling council budgets are leaving increasing numbers of people at risk on the streets, and urged the government to make up the funding shortfall or face missing its target of ending rough sleeping by 2027.
The new report, Local Authority Spending on Homelessness, carried out by WPI Economics for the charities, showed that council spending on support for single homeless people in England fell by 53% between 2008/09 and 2017/18.
This means that local authorities in England are now spending almost £1bn less a year on homelessness services compared with ten years ago.
Overall, more than £5bn less has been spent on services for single homeless people over the past nine years than would have been spent had funding continued at 2008/09 levels. During the same period, homelessness in England has risen dramatically, with the number of people sleeping rough now 165% higher than it was in 2010.
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Single people and couples without children are the least likely to have a legal right to be housed by their council and so are the most likely to end up sleeping on the streets.
The charities said that support for this group is crucial to help them find and keep accommodation and cope with the complex problems that may be contributing to their homelessness, including poor mental health, substance use and domestic abuse.
Until 2009, the government-funded Supporting People programme provided local authorities with ringfenced funding for people struggling to live independently. The impact of the removal of this ringfenced money, along with the reduction in the levels of housing-related support funding, “has been felt acutely by homelessness services,” the charities said.
These cuts are leaving vulnerable people with nowhere to turn and could be putting lives at risk, they warned.
Howard Sinclair, chief executive of St Mungo’s, said: “This shocking £1bn-a-year funding gap must be a wake-up call for the government. Councils have a crucial role to play in preventing and reducing homelessness and rough sleeping but years of cuts have left them struggling to tackle rising homelessness with fewer and fewer resources.
“If the government does not act to restore funding to previous levels, it is likely to miss its target of ending rough sleeping by 2027.”
Rick Henderson, chief executive of Homeless Link, said: “There are too many people sleeping rough and facing homelessness in this country – we can see it every day on our streets and it is unacceptable. Local authorities have a key role in supporting people who are homeless, or at risk of homelessness, but they can only do so if they have enough money to fund services properly.”
They urged the government to consider increasing funding in the next Spending Review, due in the autumn.
