In March, over 7,000 people were sleeping rough in England. It is a national scandal and one that Labour is determined to fix.
When I became Deputy Leader of Milton Keynes City Council, it was known as a “city of tents”, with those without a place to stay setting up camps in our city centre, beneath our underpasses, and next to our train station.
Rough sleepers had become a political football for a Conservative Party seeking to divide and degrade. Suella Braverman, as Home Secretary, claimed that living from a tent was a “lifestyle choice”, and the national number of people sleeping rough began to tick up once again. Britain stood on the precipice of a homelessness crisis, and the government didn’t just ignore it – they demonised the most vulnerable in our society.
Yet, as a national crisis brewed, things looked very different in Milton Keynes. With my background in homelessness, I alongside colleagues across the council set about changing the situation in Milton Keynes by first recognising that it is at its heart a people not a housing issue. Rough sleepers are often the product of being let down by their parents, by the system or by the state.
The tents were just a symptom of a deeper issue, of people trying to cope with their past and current trauma by making sometimes self-destructive decisions as a way to survive. This explains the over representation of people who grew up in care, with domestic and sexual abuse and who have been in prison. They had often been repeatedly failed by the fragmentation of support and passing between services and charities.
It was only by designing the system around the people who needed it, can we create a system where leaving the streets can become a reality for them. The first step was to consolidate the Milton Keynes homelessness services under one roof. At the Old Bus Station, the local council established a new shelter for rough sleepers. It implemented a no second night out rule effectively running SWEP all year round. The emergency beds we offered were important, but not as vital as the medical services, including a GP and addiction services, probation support and other public sector support services that were available on the ground floor. Local charities were encouraged and enabled to provide services directly at the bus shelter, dishing out hot meals, befriending and providing access to laundry equipment.
That is not to say that there are no more rough sleepers in Milton Keynes. For those who do not want to engage or accept a place at the shelter, every morning council officers check on them, building the rapport that will encourage them to engage. People with a history of rough sleeping may not be successful on their first, second or even third attempt, but I made sure that support was more widely available in Milton Keynes.
Since being elected last July, this Government has been committed to supporting homeless people, not attacking them. The Government has doubled our emergency homelessness funding to £60 million as an immediate support for councils to keep people in their homes. This is in addition to the £1 billion already committed this year to tackle the root causes of homelessness, including the largest ever investment in preventative services, so we can put in place long-lasting solutions, not just sticking plasters, to end this crisis.
The Chancellor has also outlined the biggest investment into social housing, including council houses, for a generation in her Spending Review, with £39bn being allocated to providing the housing families deserve. The Renters’ Rights Bill progressing through Parliament will finally ban no-fault evictions, stopping tenants founding themselves without anywhere to go unexpectedly – and our manifesto commitment to fight for the “hidden homeless”, who get by each night through sofa-surfing, will act further to intervene on the path of homelessness before it leads to a night alone on the streets.
Nothing underlines our commitment to making tackling homelessness a top priority than our decision to finally scrap the unfair Vagrancy Act, an archaic and outdated law that criminalises those with nowhere else to go. Within Parliament, a cross-departmental group has been established by the government to liaise with my colleagues on the backbenches who have lived experience with tackling homelessness, or experience on the streets, with ministers and Secretaries of State consulting directly with us and taking on board our feedback for the upcoming governmental Rough Sleeping Strategy. Initiatives from departments all across government are acting to support those who need it most, with our reforms to job centres, with a record investment into back-to-work support, helping across society, including those with experience rough sleeping. I am so proud to say that it has all gone a bit Milton Keynes – the Government is focused and committed to tackling the causes of homelessness, and this is only the start. Whilst the previous government had laid down a muddled path towards a Tent Nation, we’re fighting back and treating everybody with the humanity and respect that everybody deserves. That shouldn’t be political – it is what we owe everybody in society.
The impact of these changes almost goes without saying. Many of my colleagues have lived experience of sleeping rough, and they know the difference support makes. The amount of potential being squandered by our failure to support homeless communities is a national scandal, and these changes will allow us to support people off the streets and into the professional life where they can offer so much to so many. An ounce of moral fibre is all it takes to compel you to tackle homelessness, but as we make growth our priority, a workforce fulfilling their true potential – not letting it lie dormant in hostels and underpasses – will help us build a better, more decent Britain.
There’s always further to go. We know that the frontline of supporting homeless people is local government, and if an authority is committed to supporting their rough sleepers, they can achieve tremendous things – just ask Milton Keynes. With a supportive framework from Westminster, local authorities can create a seamless web of support that matches the needs in their place.
Everywhere should be a bit more like Milton Keynes. When it comes to rough sleeping, this Government should take that advice.