Calls For Scaling Up Of Housing First

A group of 12 organisations representing social landlords, local authorities and the wider homelessness sector are calling on Government and social housing providers to help make this happen. With major new investment in move-on housing and support on the horizon, now is the time to follow through on commitments and make Housing First available to […]

The Duke of Cambridge Says Now Is The Chance To “Crack Homelessness”

During a visit to The Light Project in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, he said because of the coronavirus pandemic it is the time to “do something properly”, reports the BBC news. The drop-in-centre has helped to house more than 150 people in four hotels during lockdown. One of them, Robert Smale, 55, who had been living in […]

Council Plans To Seize Empty Properties

Fill vacant rental units with tenants or we will take over your properties, the city of Barcelona is warning landlords. Barcelona is deploying a new weapon in its quest to increase the city’s available rental housing: the power to force the sale of empty properties. This week, the city’s housing department wrote to 14 companies that collectively own […]

Funding For COVID-19 Relief

Homelessness organisations affected directly by COVID-19 can now apply for funding of £5.5million in a second round of grants distributed by Homeless Link. Of this funding pot, £4.82 million is provided by The National Lottery Community Fund, the largest funder of community activity in the UK, for homelessness charities in England. A further £680,000 is […]

16 Homeless People Have Died With Coronavirus

Charities have called on the Government to take people off the streets as it was revealed how many rough sleepers who have died in the pandemic so far. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) released data which showed 16 people identified as homeless had died with coronavirus in England and Wales, reports the Metro. The […]

250,000 People At Risk Of Homelessness

A quarter of a million people will be at increased risk of eviction if the Government doesn’t act immediately, the Labour party has warned. Emergency legislation is needed before Thursday July 16 in order to stop a wave of evictions that could leave thousands homeless, the party has warned as protections for renters during the […]

Planning For The Homeless Post-Lockdown

With nowhere safe to stay and the facilities and services they depended upon closed down or more limited, people who are homeless or sleeping rough have experienced the pandemic in a very particular way, which has brought additional anxiety and disruption to their lives, writes Matt Harrison for Homeless Link. StreetLink saw alerts increase from […]

Councils ‘Illegally Relocating’ Homeless People

Councils across England are systematically breaking the law by relocating hundreds of homeless people outside of their boroughs without notifying the authorities receiving them. An investigation by ITV found that schools are being overwhelmed, with northern cities such as Bradford having received at least 290 households from 31 different boroughs in the past two years, […]

Plans To Move Liverpool’s Rough Sleepers Into Permanent Homes

Hundreds of homeless people are set to be moved out of temporary hostels and into homes in plans that have been praised by charities as providing a path towards ending homelessness, reports the Liverpool Echo. Liverpool, like other local authorities, has been providing emergency accommodation for the homeless in hostels and hotels in the city […]

More Money To Prevent Rough Sleepers Returning To The Streets

On 24 June, the Government announced an additional £85 million to prevent thousands of people currently in emergency accommodation from having to return to rough sleeping during the Coronavirus pandemic. The money will be used to support rough sleepers and those at risk of homelessness into tenancies of their own, including through help with deposits […]