For the last five years' core homelessness has been rising year on year in England, reaching a peak just before the pandemic when the numbers of homeless households jumped from 207,600 in 2018 to over 219,000 at the end of 2019.

As for the number of people rough sleeping, the latest official count found a total of 2,688 people were estimated to be sleeping rough on a single night in autumn 2020 in England, down 37 per cent on the 4,266 people recorded in 2019.

Finland is the only European Union country where homelessness is currently falling. The country has adopted a Housing First policy, whereby social services assign homeless individuals rental homes first, and issues like mental health and substance abuse are treated second.

Although a new law was passed by parliament in 2017, Crisis estimated that around 227,000 people were experiencing the worst forms of homelessness – rough sleeping, sleeping in vans and sheds, and stuck in B&Bs – across England, Scotland and Wales in 2021. The Homelessness Reduction Act means that all homeless people will be able to get help from their council and councils must try to prevent people becoming homeless in the first place. However, it is clear that this law has not been very effective.

The aim of this petition is for the UK Government to follow a similar approach to how Finland is tackling homelessness in hopes of abolishing homelessness and creating a more equal society.