No extra money for fund to tackle rough sleeping, Minister admits

THE GOVERNMENT has committed no new money to pay for its flagship £100m fund to eradicate rough sleeping within the decade, Housing Secretary James Brokenshire has admitted.

The fund was welcomed by homelessness charities as a significant step towards helping the estimated 4,751 people sleeping rough on English streets on any given night.

But in interviews yesterday Mr Brokenshire said half the total announced had already been committed to rough sleeping and the other half was “reprioritised” from existing budgets in his department.

He said: “The £100m is prioritisation of funding, so around half of that is new money for homelessness and rough sleeping, because it is about how we use the resources well and effectively and to deal with the priorities of this Government.”

Mr Brokenshire denied Government policies were behind a rise in homelessness, as identified by independent organisations such as the National Audit Office.

In Leeds yesterday, the Minister for homelessness and rough sleeping sought to play down the impact that benefits changes may have had on the issue, despite a chorus of charities saying that the Government needs to address root causes.

During a visit to the St George’s Crypt shelter, Selby MP Nigel Adams said it was too simplistic to blame just Universal Credit for rising numbers of people on the streets.

Crypt development director, Martin Paterson, said there could be an “explosion” of referrals when Universal Credit is rolled out fully in Leeds in October.