Ending rough sleeping for good – what does the 2022 Rough Sleeping Strategy mean for housing associations?

On 3 September 2022, the government published its cross-departmental rough sleeping strategy, 'Ending Rough Sleeping for Good'. It comes with £2bn of investment, including some new funding. Below, you can read our briefing on the strategy which lays out its key announcements and what they mean for housing associations.

The NHF fed into the strategy through our long-term position on the Rough Sleeping Advisory Panel, participation in an expert group, and through member feedback to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC). Crucially, the strategy recognises that ‘housing associations have a role to play in accommodating people with experience of rough sleeping’. We will continue to work with the government and other partners on implementing the strategy.

Summary

The strategy is separated into four areas:

• Prevention
• Intervention
• Recovery
• A more transparent, joined-up system.

The strategy recognises the value of housing in ending rough sleeping and makes a number of welcome commitments around housing affordability, funding long-term housing with support and promoting a strategic approach to supported housing supply. This suggests they have taken on board advice from the sector, as well as learning from the pandemic, which demonstrated the value of housing with support.

The strategy also promotes partnership working between health, local authorities, housing and other sectors, with expectations on local accountability.