Today I delivered a hard copy of the petition, along with a list of the first 10 000 signatures, and your 200 comments. I wrote to Luke Hall MP, Minister for Rough Sleeping and Housing, copying in the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Governments (MHCLG).

Big news: the Government have listened. As you may already know, Mr Hall announced an essential funding extension this morning. This is for formerly street homeless people who moved into temporary accommodation due to the pandemic. This is the ‘Everyone In’ approach. This buys time, as they plan to move into real homes.

Full credit is due to Mr Hall and to the Government for preventing evictions back on to the street. This must not be a glorious exception.

Instead, this should be framed as a massive first step forward in the project to end homelessness once and for all. There remain no clear commitments to help:

•  people who are sleeping rough today; who have missed out on temporary accommodation
• people who will become street homeless tomorrow

It is meaningful and timely to plan for the definitive end to rough sleeping; to redesign the way they are helped. In May, the cross-party MHCLG select committee of MPs advocated for precisely that; along with clear steps and a costing.

If you can spare three minutes, please:

(1)    Write to your constituency MP, asking them to press for an end to rough sleeping. State your reason in a line or two. Collectively, we can make a difference. One easy way to do this is via They Work For You. No account or registration is needed.

                    AND/OR

(2)    Tweet @LukeHall to let him know why you support an end to rough sleeping. If you choose to use the hashtag #ERS2020, I will Re-Tweet to amplify your voice.

                    AND/OR

(3)    Continue to share this petition link. Let’s keep the end of rough sleeping high in the Government’s agenda.

Thank you for your remarkable support for rough sleepers to date.