What does each party promise on ending homelessness?

The next government will inherit a housing and homelessness crisis, with rough sleeping increasing and a record number of children in temporary accommodation. We’ve looked into the main Party Manifestos to see what commitments they’re making on tackling homelessness.

At the NHF, we’ve been clear on the need for an ambitious long-term plan for housing. We need commitments to: end child poverty by 2035, build 90,000 social homes a year, guarantee increased funding for housing related support and extend funding programmes like the Rough Sleeper Initiative. After the manifestos were released last week, here’s a quick rundown of the party’s pledges on homelessness.

Our overall take

There is a welcome consensus on the need to end rough sleeping. Both Labour and the Conservatives have made this commitment without a set deadline, and the Liberal Democrats have committed to ending rough sleeping ‘within the next parliament’. However, the Conservative commitment does represent a step back compared to their 2019 promise to end rough sleeping by 2024 – which has not materialised.

Recognition of the broader crisis in temporary accommodation and insecure housing is also widespread. Labour criticises the rise in ‘hidden homelessness’ and promises to “develop a cross-government strategy, working with Mayors and Councils across the country, to put Britain back on track to ending homelessness”.

Wider reports suggest this approach would likely sit within the new Office of the Deputy PM and be modelled on the Blair government’s Rough Sleepers Unit, but with a wider remit.

In their manifesto, the Liberal Democrats commit to addressing ‘all forms of homelessness’, while the Conservatives promise to continue their current work on prevention, delivering the ongoing Local Authority Housing Fund, and reviewing the quality of temporary accommodation.

Housebuilding and social homes

At the NHF, we’ve been consistently calling for 90,000 more social homes a year. Labour proposes an overall housebuilding target of 1.5m homes over five years, with the Tories promising 1.6m and the Liberal Democrats 1.9m. Labour promises to “prioritise the building of new social rented homes”, while the Conservatives commit to the next Affordable Homes programme delivering “homes of all tenures”. Only the Liberal Democrats place a target on the number of social rented homes, at 150,000 a year.

The Renters Reform Bill

A consensus on finally abolishing Section 21 evictions will be welcome news to private renters, after the Renters Reform Bill was lost at the dissolution of Parliament. Both Labour and the Liberal Democrats promise to ban no-fault evictions ‘immediately’, while the Conservatives restate their position of “delivering the court reforms necessary [to abolish Section 21]”.

Public spending

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the two major parties have taken a cautious approach to spending commitments. Neither party allocates any funding to their pledges to end rough sleeping and homelessness, places a target on their plans to build social housing or commits to increased revenue funding for supported accommodation. While both Labour and the Conservatives promise multiyear funding settlements to councils (which would improve the commissioning environment for supported accommodation), these pledges don’t include additional resources.

Tackling the homelessness crisis makes economic as well as social sense. Supported housing costs the public sector £22k less on average compared to a person’s long term homelessness, every £1 invested in Housing First produces £1.24 in public sector savings , and a one time investment in 90,000 social homes would produce £11.9bn net profit for the Treasury over 30 years. The NHF will continue to raise the economic benefits of tackling homelessness with the new government.

Migrant communities at risk of homelessness

Between July and December 2023, there was a 1,116% increase in rough sleeping among successful refugees who had recently left Home Office accommodation. This has placed significant pressure on NHF members providing supported accommodation and rough sleeper services. While immigration has been a high-profile issue in this election, these increasing rates of migrant homelessness have remained conspicuously absent from the Labour and Conservative manifestos.

The Conservatives pledged to deliver their flagship Rwanda scheme and enact the Illegal Migration Act. Labour has committed to scrapping the Rwanda scheme, setting up a returns and enforcement unit, and hiring caseworkers to clear the asylum backlog. Only the Liberal Democrats commit to increasing the Home Office move on period to 60 days (as we have previously called for at the NHF), which would reduce the amount of successful asylum seekers being evicted into homelessness. The NHF will continue to unite with the wider sector to stress the importance of an immigration system that works to prevent homelessness.

Key takeaways

It’s very encouraging that all parties remain committed to end rough sleeping, which is increasing month on month. Commitments from Labour and the Liberal Democrats to end homelessness more broadly with a cross governmental approach and prioritise building social homes are especially welcome, as the homelessness crisis extends far beyond rough sleeping, and will only be ended with a long term plan for housing.

However, commitments alone aren’t enough to address the worsening crisis – the next government will need to commit significant spending to welfare changes, supported accommodation funding and social house building.
That’s why we’ve joined key housing and homelessness organisations in signing Homeless Link’s joint letter to each of the party leaders, asking the next government to commit to key policies to help the UK to end homelessness for good.