Charities hailed the £100 million drive as a significant step forward but warned that more social housing is needed to end homelessness.
Theresa May has declared her aim to help homeless people “turn their lives around” as the Government launched a £100 million plan to end rough sleeping on England’s streets.
However, they warned it will not provide a “total fix” for homelessness, which would require a significant increase in social housing, more security for renters and the reversal of policies which leave migrants homeless.
Based on a three-pronged approach of prevention, intervention and recovery, it focuses on efforts to stop people becoming homeless in the first place, with swift, targeted support to get those in crisis off the streets and into long-term housing.
A new network of specialist “navigators” will help rough sleepers access services and accommodation.
Mrs May said: “Nobody should have to sleep rough and that’s why we must do all we can to help the most vulnerable in our society get the support they need.
In a joint statement, seven homelessness charities who advised on the strategy said it would “make a real difference to people’s lives”.
However, the charities – Crisis, Homeless Link, National Housing Federation, Shelter, St Basil’s, St Mungo’s and Thames Reach – warned: “For the strategy to work, the Government must also set out bold, cross-departmental plans to tackle the root causes of all forms of homelessness and prevent it from happening in the first place.
“This must include plans to build significantly more social housing, to foster greater security for renters, to ensure people have access to benefits and other support they need to help them keep their homes.
The chief executive of St Mungo’s outreach, hostel and recovery service, Howard Sinclair, said: “Rough sleeping is harmful, dangerous and dehumanising and we share the Government’s aim that no-one should have to sleep rough.
Shelter’s chief executive Polly Neate said: “Let’s be clear, this is a step forward and not a total fix for homelessness.
Labour’s shadow housing secretary John Healey dismissed the strategy as “a feeble plan that lacks any urgency to tackle the crisis of rising rough sleeping”.
Mr Healey said: “The scale of the problem is clear today but the Government’s target means waiting almost a decade to deal with this crisis.
Mr Healey said the next Labour government would end rough sleeping within its first term by making 8,000 homes available for people with a history of rough sleeping.
David Orr, chief executive of the National Housing Federation, said: “People sleeping on the streets because they don’t have a home of their own is a desperate situation and one that needs to be tackled as a matter of urgency.