Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he is taking to reduce levels of rough sleeping in winter 2023 in (a) England, (b) County Durham and (c) the City of Durham.

In September 2022, we published a bold, new strategy: Ending Rough Sleeping For Good. The strategy sets out cross government action and sets out how we are investing £2 billion over three years to tackle homelessness and end rough sleeping. We are investing over £530 million across England over three years through the Rough Sleeping Initiative 22-25. The Rough Sleeping Initiative funding provides local areas the resources to offer accommodation, support, and a route off the streets for people sleeping rough all year-round, including winter 2023. Of this investment the City of Durham was allocated £653,750 and County Durham allocated £3,777,842. A breakdown of allocations by local authority can be found here.