LGA sets out its “asks” for cross departmental homelessness and rough sleeping strategy

It said councils would play their role but could not solve such a complex problem on their own and without more resources would remain in “a cycle of firefighting”.

The LGA said councils were “at the sharp end of the housing and homelessness crisis”, with Government data showing 324,990 households were assessed as being owed a homelessness duty in 2023-24, an increase of 8.8% from the previous year.

Data also showed 131,100 households in temporary accommodation and that the average house price in England was 7.7 times higher than average annual earnings.

Councils’ budgeted net spend on homelessness services has increased by £604m - equivalent to 77.4% - in real terms from 2019-20 to 2024-25 and in 2023-24 nearly £2.3bn was spent on temporary accommodation.  

The LGA said: “The causes and impacts of homelessness are complex, interrelated and multidimensional.

“Addressing homelessness sustainably and effectively requires joint thinking, shared learning and collaboration across a wide range of partners and disciplines, including the voices of frontline staff and people with lived experience.”

It added: "Councils stand ready to deliver but cannot solve this challenge alone. Homelessness prevention requires a whole-society approach: national and local government, the NHS, schools, employers, landlords, the voluntary sector and communities all have a role to play."

There should be a clear duty to identify, act, and collaborate to prevent homelessness across departments and local services, extended to include housing providers and schools and to prevent discharging from the NHS into homelessness and rough sleeping. 

Although reforms to right-to-buy, the commitment to ban 'no fault' evictions, and to introducing a multi-year social housing rent settlement were all welcome, the LGA said other changes were essential.

These included engaging councils well in advance of any decisions on opening or closing asylum accommodation “rather than after a decision has been made” and a more preventative approach to the underlying causes of socioeconomic inequality and family hardship.  

Pool funding for prevention at a local level with long-term, flexible, multi-agency homelessness prevention budgets would support joined-up commissioning between councils, the NHS and partners, reducing fragmentation and enabling strategic planning, the LGA said.

It also said ring fencing of funding pots, such as the Homelessness Prevention Grant, “prevents councils from appropriately being able to flex funding to meet pressures that arise, and lifting this fencing will support the strategic planning required to meet demand”.   

Full funding would be needed to deliver existing homelessness commitments including the recruitment, training and retention of skilled staff.

The Homelessness Reduction Act and Rough Sleeping Strategy created important foundations, “but without the resources to match rising demand, councils will remain in a cycle of firefighting”, the LGA said.

Councils should gain the flexibilities needed to acquire settled housing and incentivise short-term temporary accommodation providers to offer longer-term, settled homes, possibly by the introduction of an intermediate housing product with rents charged at above local housing allowance levels.

The LGA said local housing allowance rates must at minimum keep pace with the bottom 30% of local rents.

Mark Smulian