Woman who is rough sleeping sits on pavement with red brick wall behind her

Single Homeless Project responds to the Government’s National Plan to End Homelessness​

| Categories: Government Policy

Single Homeless Project, London’s leading homelessness charity supporting 10,000 people a year, responds to the Government’s cross-department national strategy to end homelessness, published on 11 December 2025.

Liz Rutherfoord, CEO, Single Homeless Project, said:

“The Government’s new strategy gives us a solid starting point for ending homelessness and rough sleeping, but we are on quite a journey. We’re ready to work with national, regional and local partners to deliver this plan and ensure fewer people are losing their homes and sleeping rough.

Women’s rough sleeping

“We welcome the commitment to halving long-term rough sleeping and are pleased to see our call to end verification being accepted. When nine in ten women sleeping rough are not seen or counted, a new needs-based approach is a critical step forward. But the new strategy still falls short of giving women’s homelessness the attention it urgently deserves. Encouraging councils to run the Women’s Rough Sleeping Census and providing toolkits is helpful, but without a gender-informed definition of rough sleeping and a clear national commitment to addressing women’s homelessness, these measures won’t drive meaningful change. You cannot halve long-term rough sleeping when the data continues to drastically underrepresent the women who are living it, which we know is the case.

Prevention and multiple disadvantage

“We are encouraged to see the proposed cross government commitment to embed a duty to prevent homelessness within public services, and by the announcement of a new multiple disadvantage funding programme. People facing overlapping challenges need a no-wrong-door, trauma-informed approach where services co-ordinate and talk to one another. Done well, these commitments could help break the cycle between the streets, prison and hospital, and support people to rebuild their lives for the long term.”

Supported housing

“We welcome the extra revenue funding for supported housing, and we need to see clear plans for how it will reach the services that need it most. We support people with long histories of rough sleeping and complex needs every day, and we know all too well that without sustained investment, the cycle of repeat homelessness will continue.”