Ali, who took on the role when Labour came to power in July 2024, was under pressure to quit after reports in the i found she hiked the rent on her property before putting it back on the market after her tenants left.
The Bethnal Green and Stepney MP was accused of renting out the four-bedroom townhouse near London’s Olympic Park for £700 more than it had been on the market for when tenants were living in it.
The tenants, who had been paying £3,300, were told in November that the lease on their fixed-term tenancy was not being renewed and were given four months’ notice to leave.
It is understood that the property was listed for sale while the tenants were still living there and they were offered a rolling contract to remain beyond the fixed term but they decided to leave.
But just weeks after they left, one tenant saw the property back on the rental market for £4,000 a month.
McGovern was appointed minister of state at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on 8 September. That was a day after Keir Starmer rang the changes with a cabinet reshuffle following housing secretary and deputy prime minister Angela Rayner’s resignation.
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But McGovern’s brief as local government and homelessness minister was not confirmed until a later date.
Here are the challenges she will be tasked with tackling in the role.
Record-high homelessness
Homelessness has soared in England in recent times and it will be Alison McGovern’s job to turn that around.
Government figures show 324,990 households in England needed council support for homelessness in 2023-24 – a record-high and 8.8% more than in 2022-23.
A total of 131,140 households were living in temporary accommodation as of the end of March this year – that’s up 11.8% from the same point in 2024. It also means 169,050 dependent children are growing up in temporary accommodation.
An estimated 4,667 people were counted as sleeping rough on England’s streets on a single night in autumn last year. That’s slightly down on the 2017 peak when frontline workers counted 4,751 people out on the streets. But the total is still 20% higher than the 2023 count.
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Meanwhile, the number of rough sleepers in London is at a record-high. Chain figures, which are considered the most accurate count across the country, found 13,231 people were rough sleeping in the English capital between April 2024 and March 2025 – an annual rise of 10%.
Vagrancy Act
The government has announced that the Vagrancy Act would finally be scrapped in 2026.
Angela Rayner confirmed in June that the 200-year old law, which has made rough sleeping and begging a criminal offence, will finally be consigned to the history books next year.
It is five years since the then-Conservative government said they would end the use of the law, which is considered antiquated and outdated. The Vagrancy Act was eventually repealed as part of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 but the legislation remained in operation until replaced.
The Home Office’s Crime and Policing Bill will finally phase it out for good and McGovern will likely be the homelessness minister at the time of its rollout.
Homelessness strategy
Her first task will be shepherding through the long-term cross-party homelessness strategy that is expected to be published this year.
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The long-awaited plan aims to fill a void in England with no current overarching strategy in place, unlike in Wales and Scotland.
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