Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to ensure a holistic approach to homelessness outreach support, including mental health services, rehabilitation, drug and alcohol support, and social prescribing.

We are taking a cross-government approach to tackling homelessness. This includes a dedicated Inter-Ministerial Group, bringing together ministers from across government to oversee delivery of our strategy, A National Plan to End Homelessness, and enact the Prime Minister’s commitment to end rough sleeping.

My department is working closely with the Department of Health and Social Care to deliver a number of interventions to support people experiencing homelessness with co-occurring health needs. These include the Rough Sleeping Drug and Alcohol Treatment Programme, which funds evidence-based drug and alcohol treatment and wraparound support for people sleeping rough or at risk. It aims to improve access to treatment, including for those with co-occurring mental health needs. For 2026-29, we are investing £185 million into this programme, expanding to nine additional areas with high levels of need and taking the total number of areas supported to 91.

In addition, we are investing an additional £874 million into ending rough sleeping. The new Rough Sleeping Programme (RSP) funds areas to ensure everyone sleeping rough has a route off the streets before Christmas, while building the longer-term solutions to end and prevent rough sleeping. Alongside providing accommodation, funding should be used by local areas to address the causes of a person’s rough sleeping, including working with health and social care partners to improve access to mental health, social care, safeguarding and ongoing support for people sleeping rough.