Our response to the Government’s homelessness strategy
11 December 2025
We welcome the Government’s ambition to halve rough sleeping and look forward to working together to turn this strategy into real, lasting change
We welcome the publication of the Government’s new cross-department homelessness strategy and, in particular, the explicit target to halve rough sleeping. This represents an important ambition at a government level, and acknowledges that we must move beyond simply managing rough sleeping to recognising that it can and should be ended.
Although we are yet to see the strategy in full, we welcome its focus on prevention, including commitments to improve early intervention and stop people being discharged from hospitals and prisons into homelessness. These issues have a direct and significant impact on the people we support on a daily basis.
We also welcome the recognition that people who have spent a long time sleeping rough will need more than housing alone to move away from homelessness for good. The strategy’s commitments to providing more, and more suitable, accommodation and housing offer an essential route away from rough sleeping, particularly in a city where demand for services remains exceptionally high.
The investment announced – including additional funding for local authorities, new resources for voluntary and community partners, and programmes aimed at improving emergency and supported accommodation – has the potential to support meaningful progress. However, greater clarity is still needed on how this support will reach those most at risk of long-term and entrenched rough sleeping. Without clear pathways into genuinely affordable housing, many people will continue to struggle. The absence of national expansion of Housing First and the continued pressures caused by the freeze on housing benefit remain significant barriers to sustaining accommodation in London.
We welcome the recognition that poor-quality temporary and emergency accommodation is unacceptable, and we support efforts to increase the availability of good-quality options. Investment in supported housing also provides opportunities for people with more complex needs to move from rough sleeping and hostel living into greater stability.
At Thames Reach, we know that people can rebuild their lives when they have stable housing and personalised support. We look forward to seeing more detail as it emerges and to working with government and local and regional authorities to put these ambitions into practice.
Bill Tidnam, Chief Executive, said:
“This is a welcome step, but progress will depend on how effectively support reaches the people who are furthest from services. We look forward to working with government and local partners to ensure these commitments translate into real change for people experiencing rough sleeping in London.”