The current picture

In April 2003, the Government introduced the Supporting People funding stream, which pays for accommodation-based and floating support services for homeless people and other vulnerable groups - enabling them to enjoy a better quality of life, to live more independently and to maintain their tenancies.

Supporting People is a central government fund paid to local authorities, who then contract services to meet local need. However, there are limitations to the sort of services it can support, and many areas are facing cuts in order to control the overall size of the funding pot.

The present system for protecting people from homelessness builds on legislation first passed by parliament in 1977, and now enshrined in the 1996 Housing Act and the 2002 Homelessness Act. This legislation places certain duties on local authorities to provide settled accommodation to households in priority need, who are not intentionally homeless. The priority needs categories include families with children, some categories of young people, and other people who are considered to be vulnerable due to, for example, a mental health condition.

In March 2005, ODPM published Sustainable Communities: settled homes; changing lives - a strategy for tackling homelessness. This strategy acknowledged the significant achievements made in meeting challenging targets to reduce rough sleeping and to end the long-term use of Bed & Breakfast hotels for families with children. It also set out policies and priorities for preventing homelessness over the next five years.

The Government also set up the Homelessness and Housing Support Directorate in 2004, within the Department of Communities and Local Government (CLG). The Directorate brings together various initiatives, incorporating: the work of the Bed and Breakfast Unit; the introduction, monitoring and evaluation of the homelessness legislation; the production of the National Homelessness Strategy; and the role of the Rough Sleepers Unit. It also manages the Supporting People programme which helps vulnerable people live independently in their accommodation

The £90 million Hostels Capital Improvement Programme (HCIP) was launched in January 2005, with the specific aim of increasing the number of people who move on positively from a hostel or homeless service - for example to a job or training and a settled home.

The HCIP fund also provided much-needed capital to transform the physical environment of existing hostels, and enabled hostels to remodel their approach to tackling homelessness by providing a pathway off the streets and into independent living. In 2007, Housing Minister Yvette Cooper launched the £70m Places of Change Programme (PCP) which looks to build upon the success of the HCIP.

The PCP aims to continue to increase the number of people moving on from their hostel or homelessness service in a positive way; and also increase the number moving into education and employment.

In April 2008, the CLG announced its intention to publish a an updated rough sleeping strategy later this year. Ten years on from the publication of the Social Exclusion Unit report into rough sleeping the CLG has set out a renewed commitment to the original goal to drive rough sleeping down as close to zero as possible. St Mungo's remains committed to this goal and welcomes the recognition that a new strategy to tackle rough sleeping is needed.