On 18 December 2024, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government announced the 2025/26 funding allocations for local authorities on homelessness.
Fiona Colley, Director of Social Change at Homeless Link, the membership body for homelessness services, said:
“Today’s announcement represents a win for the homelessness sector, fulfilling our ask of a one-year funding rollover so that services can continue to provide vital support to some of the most marginalised people in our society.
“We would now urge local authorities to confirm homelessness services’ contracts swiftly, providing much needed financial certainty and enabling them to plan ahead. These should include uplifts to cover the full cost of inflation and the increases to National Insurance Contributions and National Living Wage.
“Without this additional funding, charities will struggle to stay afloat as demand for their services continues to grow. Our annual review of homelessness support revealed that 41% of accommodation providers and 33% of day centres risk service closures due to rising costs, and 36% of accommodated providers stated they have already reduced their provision.
“We would also caution local authorities to ensure that money from the Homelessness Prevention Grant isn't used to fill the temporary accommodation funding hole. Instead, as is intended, it should be used to ensure the delivery of a holistic homelessness prevention programme including the continued delivery of existing services like Housing First.
“Looking to the future, the Government must now focus on carrying out a systemic review of homelessness funding to regain control of spending. A restructured funding system that can support a cross-government homelessness strategy will be essential if we are to make any headway towards preventing and addressing homelessness.”
