This month, many rough sleepers face imminent eviction from temporary accommodation, back to the street.

Some rough sleepers have No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF). NRPF applies to several groups, including recent migrants (who are here legally) and even to some people who were born in the UK. NRPF puts some people at risk of destitution, but the route out of NRPF status is itself expensive; out-of-reach to many.

Exceptionally, some rough sleepers with NRPF status were given temporary accommodation when lockdown was called. But last week, Mr Hall MP (Minister for Homelessness) clarified the Government’s stance: there will be no change from pre-pandemic practices for people with NRPF status. This allows for rough sleepers to be evicted back to the street. Charities are describing this situation as a moral and a public health calamity. Note that many shelters and daytime services cannot operate at the moment, with social distancing measures, so the situation is more dire than before the pandemic.

Between 40 and 50% of rough sleepers who were given temporary accommodation during lockdown have NRPF status, according to charities. But some other rough sleepers – UK citizens – are also being told by their local authority that they will have to leave temporary accommodation. It is troubling to see these returns to ‘business as usual’.

It is difficult to square these exclusions of people from help with Mr Hall’s statement of 30 June that ending homelessness is a ‘moral mission’. On that day, he extended funding for some – but, as we can see, not all – rough sleepers. Funding is always welcome, but it goes best hand in hand with innovative or effective practices – not ‘more of the same’.

Interim reply from the Minister for Homelessness

Mr Hall responded to this petition. He wrote in May, but my constituency MP’s office did not forward it to me until now. In his letter, Mr Hall referred to (i) the Taskforce that Dame Louise Casey is leading. This Taskforce is focusing on how rough sleepers can find accommodation in the longer term, as well as recover from their experience of homelessness. (ii) He also mentioned £3.2 million ring-fenced in England for local authorities to support rough sleepers during the pandemic. (iii) Lastly, he explained that the Government is progressing with pilots of Housing First (see previous updates).

A Taskforce (i) is certainly welcome, but not an end in itself. Where are the Taskforce’s processes recorded and are they open to debate? It is also notable (ii) that the devolved Welsh Government ring-fenced £10m for local authorities to support rough sleepers – this is 3 times the amount for England, yet Wales’s population is 18 times smaller. It certainly is positive to see progress with (iii) Housing First. This marks a departure from conventional approaches to street homelessness in the UK.

What next?

Subsequent to Mr Hall’s reply in May, this petition was delivered to him, as well as the Ministry at the end of June. Since then, a further 3000 people have signed. Questions remain unanswered.

Housing First could represent a breakthrough in ending street homelessness in the UK. But there are lots of dots to join up between the here and now, and Housing First on a big scale. How will rough sleepers access shelters and places of temporary accommodation in the interim? Why are many groups of people (including those with NRPF status) systematically left out of the system; left on the street? There have been laudable gains for many people currently in temporary accommodation. What of people who are on the street today? And future rough sleepers? Without reform of the way rough sleepers are supported, it is hard to feel hopeful. The cross-party Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) Select Committee has identified (May 2020) that ending rough sleeping is achievable in defined steps, and affordable.

Please continue to share the link to this petition. Please continue to write to your MP, if you can make the time. Together, we can push for positive change.