Salvation Army responds to Prime Minister's rough sleeping plan

In response to Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s plan to offer every rough sleeper in England accommodation this Christmas, The Salvation Army’s Director of Homelessness Services, Nick Redmore said:

“Let’s use this energy from the Prime Minster to make this the Christmas when we start to finally turn the tide on rough sleeping, but we must be ready for this to take time and resource. 

“For over 160 years, The Salvation Army has provided accommodation and advice for people facing another night on the street. We see first-hand the harm and impact of rough sleeping but getting people off the street is only the first step towards creating a place of safety.

“As specialists in supporting people experiencing homeless and rough sleeping, we know what is needed to ensure a night in from the cold is also the start of a transition back into independent living. 

“We share the Prime Minister’s ambition but truly ending rough sleeping is a marathon not a sprint. Meaningful change takes time and investment in specialist services designed to empower people to make long term and sustainable changes. It will also be important ensure there is enough specialist and social housing.”

These significant changes will be needed to turn ‘Everyone in for Christmas’ into long lasting change for some of the most vulnerable people in our society:

• In the short term, a change to homelessness legislation in England so that rough sleepers are added to the priority need list for emergency and then longer-term housing but, in the long term, for the priority need list to be abolished so everyone who is homeless can be helped. 

• Reverse the freeze on the value of Local Housing Allowance rates to enable people claiming Universal Credit or housing benefit to afford to rent at least three in every ten of the most affordable private properties in any given area.  

• A commitment to a sustained investment and increase in housing stock and especially social housing in the UK to meet the needs of the growing numbers of people at risk of, or experiencing, homelessness. 

• An introduction of the same recording system of the rough sleeping population as in London (CHAIN statistics) to other cities and regions in the UK with high levels of homelessness, providing detailed information on the number of homeless people across the whole country in need of support.

In addition to providing over 2,800 beds for people every night, The Salvation Army has recently been awarded £1.07 million by the grant-making charity, Benefact Trust. This will allow the church and charity to help people who are highly vulnerable but are unable to access local authority homelessness accommodation and would otherwise face a night on the streets.