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Govt quietly scraps scheme that provided accommodation for homeless people in hotels during the pandemic
Hundreds of homeless people who had been put up in hotels during the coronavirus pandemic are now being moved out after ministers quietly pulled the plug on the ‘Everyone In’ programme ...
Charities have expressed fears about the prospect of a surge in street homelessness after a leaked report suggested that the government will no longer fund an emergency programme to house rough sleepers in hotels.
The report, leaked to the Manchester Evening News, suggested that the Ministry for Communities, Housing & Local Government has now “drawn a line” under its drive to accommodate all rough sleepers, and has told councils it will no longer be funded centrally.
The MHCLG denied that the government was “reneging on the commitment set out at the start of this national emergency”. “We have been clear councils must continue to provide safe accommodation for those that need, and any suggestion that funding is being withdrawn or people asked to leave hotels is unfounded,” a MHCLG spokesperson said.
But amid uncertainty about whether central government or local authorities will be responsible for the rising hotel bills, once initial central government funding runs out, homelessness charities are concerned that there will be pressure to move rough sleepers out of hotels before it has been possible to secure suitable long-term housing for them.