By Emma Haddad

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The cold snap of autumn is already here. As Chief Executive of the homelessness charity St Mungo’s, this always reminds me of the first outreach shift I ever did.

It was 2024 and a freezing December night in the capital. I was out with the team at 11pm, and we walked the streets until 2am. Seeing people lying on frost-bitten pavements, trying to sleep with nothing but a polyester sleeping bag for protection, felt like the stuff of nightmares. All I could think was: how can this be happening in 21st-century Britain?

This winter, if it feels like you’re seeing more people sleeping rough on the streets of our capital, you’re not imagining it. Homelessness in the UK has been rising steadily for the past decade, with London seeing some of the sharpest increases.

Last autumn, 4,667 people were seen rough sleeping in England on a single night – a rise of 20% from 2023. Of all people sleeping rough, nearly half (45%) were in London and the South East.

Meanwhile, a record 131,140 households are trapped in temporary accommodation. And more than 1.3 million households are stuck on social housing waiting lists — a 10% increase in just two years.

Homelessness, in all its forms, is spiralling, as rising rents, a chronic shortage of affordable and social housing, job insecurity, and stretched public services are driving more people into destitution. People are then remaining in destitution and in insecure housing for longer. The wait for their homelessness to be resolved can be catastrophic; the longer people wait, the more complex their needs become which can lead many to rough sleeping.

The departure of Rushanara Ali at the start of the summer and more recently of Angela Rayner from their key roles on housing and homelessness left the sector in limbo at a critical time.

Thankfully, that changed earlier this week with the appointment of Alison McGovern as Minister for Local Government and Homelessness. She joins Steve Reed, the new Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, and Matthew Pennycook, who remains in post as Minister for Housing.

Posting to Blue Sky with the news of her appointment, McGovern said: “So much to do to rebalance our economy and make sure there are no more forgotten places, no more forgotten people.” And I couldn’t agree more.

Her message struck a promising tone, particularly as her appointment marks another clear opportunity for Government to provide the renewed focus and national leadership that homelessness policy so desperately needs.

Meaningful, coordinated action is essential to tackle our current homelessness crisis. The first place to start is with the national homelessness strategy, which was a commitment made in Labour’s manifesto last year and already months overdue.

By setting out a comprehensive plan that brings Whitehall and the sector together under an ambitious vision, McGovern can shape a system that prevents homelessness and addresses the root causes of the problem.

Homelessness is not just a housing issue. It’s also a healthcare, welfare, employment, criminal justice, immigration, hospital discharge, care system and local government issue, to name but a few. It needs, therefore, joined-up solutions that address all of these areas.

To take just one example, 76% of our clients at St Mungo’s had their recovery from homelessness hindered by mental health issues last year and 59% had long-term physical health conditions. These are complex needs that need to be addressed to allow people to recover from homelessness.

Without early, integrated support, people are at risk of missing out on vital help when they need it most. This only intensifies the support they need, making recovery longer, harder and more costly — both to the individual, and to the state.

The new Minister would do really well to seize this moment, and introduce a clear, national plan that can finally shift the system from crisis response to prevention.

The national strategy has to be bold, ambitious and collaborative. It must bring together housing, health and the welfare system in a coordinated push to address the root causes of homelessness — and offer people a way out of homelessness for good.

At St Mungo’s, we stand ready to work with Minister McGovern and with the rest of the sector to shape a system that prevents homelessness and ensures no one is left without a place to call home. In spite of the challenges, we are confident we can repeat what has been done in the past and turn the tide on homelessness.

Emma Haddad is Chief Executive of St Mungo’s, a leading homelessness charity