How 2026 can mark the beginning of the end for rough sleeping

As we look ahead to 2026, I find myself thinking about the people our teams met on the streets last year.

Despite the tireless work of outreach teams across the country, homelessness and rough sleeping remained at record highs in 2025. Each night, our teams walked the same pavements where thousands were forced to bed down, and each day, they helped people begin the long journey off the streets by providing emergency accommodation and specialist support. 

So, when the government published its National Plan to End Homelessness at the end of the year, we were among the first to welcome it. This is the first national plan in England to address all forms of rough sleeping and homelessness. Its new ‘duty to collaborate’ across public services recognises that ending homelessness requires partners to work together across the system. This will be critical in achieving the new national target to halve long-term rough sleeping by the end of this parliament, alongside creative solutions to ensure we are meeting people’s complex needs. 

Prevention must be at the heart of this national effort. We must catch people before they fall into homelessness, before a one-off crisis spirals into a complex cycle that becomes harder to escape. Yet, as the government rightly acknowledges, prevention cannot come at the expense of the existing support services that are already stretched to their limits. After more than a decade of rising rough sleeping – a 164% increase since 2010 – frontline services are close to breaking point. In autumn 2024, an estimated 4,667 people were sleeping rough on just a single night. 

Last year, St Mungo’s supported more than 26,000 people who were homeless or at risk of homelessness. Our outreach teams helped hundreds of people off the streets, with many moving into our supported housing services. These provide more than a roof: they offer the ongoing support people need to rebuild their lives. They work. They are proven. But without long-term, secure investment, their future is uncertain – along with the stability of the people they support. 

Investing in these services would not only protect them but also create the capacity needed to expand new, preventive models of support. 

Encouragingly, the government has pledged an additional £124 million for supported housing up to 2029. However, unless this funding is clearly directed to the frontline and delivered in a predictable, multi-year way, it risks becoming yet another stopgap solution for a long-term issue. 

Services like St Mungo’s need stability to plan effectively, recruit and train teams, and make progress against the ambitious goals set out in the national strategy. 

Ending rough sleeping also depends on addressing the profound and complex health needs of people who have spent the longest on the streets. Our teams see daily how prolonged homelessness worsens physical and mental health and makes recovery far harder.

Last year, 76% of people we supported had mental health needs affecting their recovery; 59% had physical health conditions; and 44% needed support with substance use. Many of our clients also experience multiple disadvantages, with 35% of single adults in England affected by homelessness managing three or more support needs concurrently, and requiring specialist, tailored support alongside stable housing. 

This is why models like Housing First are so vital. As one of the UK’s largest Housing First providers, St Mungo’s understands the importance of offering a stable home with intensive, flexible support for as long as it is needed. The government’s own evaluation of its Housing First pilots found that 92% of participants were living in long-term, largely social rented accommodation after a year of their placement; a much improved level of tenancy sustainment than would be the case without that support and a major intervention to break the cycle of repeated incidents of rough sleeping.

The national plan made no commitment to rolling out Housing First more widely, which is a missed opportunity to embed a proven solution. 

Alongside this, investment in floating support services is also essential. This tailored support provides the stability and continuity for people to live independently, often when they have moved on from supported housing. This not only helps to prevent recurring homelessness but also frees capacity in supported accommodation for those who most need it. 

A necessary evolution of the system

We already know how to end rough sleeping. The solutions exist, and they work with the right investment. But the system must still evolve. 

Right now, many people can only access support once they are already seen sleeping on the streets, which is particularly dangerous for women and other vulnerable adults. We were pleased that the strategy signalled an end to the need to be ‘verified’ before being offered support. 

In London, the Rough Sleeping Prevention Project (RSPP) – delivered by St Mungo’s with support from the MHCLG, GLA and London Councils – is proving that prevention can become the norm. Using the Ending Rough Sleeping Assessment Tool (ERSAT), services identify single people on the brink of long-term rough sleeping who wouldn’t normally be considered ‘priority need’, such as those sofa surfing or facing imminent eviction, and place them into accommodation before they reach the streets.  

The early results are powerful. Between July 2024 and November 2025, the project helped 221 people to move into accommodation before having to sleep on the streets. Of the 72 people who were helped by the prevention project between April and June 2025, just two were subsequently seen sleeping rough within 90 days, according to official figures.

This is what prevention looks like in practice: a humane, proactive system that stops rough sleeping before it begins.  

It complements other promising initiatives, such as the Mayor of London’s expanded Floating Hubs, which deliver temporary, focused support.

Read more:

• Homelessness stagnated in Labour’s first year – but ministers warned not to mistake it for progress
• I’m a Labour MP. We must be bolder if we want to turn around the state’s failures on homelessness
• Is Labour really going to end homelessness?

Delivering on promise

The government’s plan recognises the scale of homelessness and rough sleeping. Its ambitions are welcome and must now be translated into long-term funding and clear lines of responsibility across government. 

The continuation of the government’s expert group and lived experience forum that helped shape the plan is encouraging. Across St Mungo’s, we are already delivering on the vision and ready to work even more closely with partners across the sector for even greater impact. 

The challenges of the past decade have been immense. But the direction of travel is promising – and 2026 must be the year intent turns into decisive, collective action and, vitally, results. 

At St Mungo’s, we are determined to play our part in bringing an end to homelessness and rough sleeping for good. 

Emma Haddad is chief executive of St Mungo’s

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