London Mayor and Government make pledges to reduce homelessness

The crisis is rife in London.

Transcript

00:00London Mayor Sir Sanit Khan has announced a new £1 million homelessness strategy

00:06designed to deliver intensive, targeted interventions across 17 rough sleeping hotspots in the capital.

00:16Now, the policy forms part of his wider £44.8 million plan to end homelessness in London by 2030.

00:25City Hall estimated that this latest phase would support more than 350 people who are either already sleeping on the streets

00:34or at risk of doing so over the winter months.

00:39The initiative will involve the deployment of floating hubs across the city in partnership with homelessness charity St Mongo's.

00:49These hubs will provide roaming outreach and support services for rough sleepers across the city.

00:58The approach forms part of the Mayor's Ending Homelessness Accelerator Programme,

01:03which aims to strengthen collaboration between City Hall and London councils as well.

01:09The programme is supported by £3.5 million in central government funding too.

01:16Now, the announcement also comes as the government sets out its own national targets to reduce homelessness across the country.

01:26This is what Minister Alison McGovern said on the national plan to end homelessness.

01:33This Labour government inherited a homelessness crisis.

01:37Both rough sleeping and households in temporary accommodation increased radically from 2010.

01:43So, it's not just the people we can see sleeping in Westminster Tube Station as we leave this building,

01:49but also families and children that we can't see,

01:53living in unsuitable temporary accommodation such as bed and breakfast,

01:57without a kitchen far away from family, friends and schools.

02:02And for some, Madam Deputy Speaker, this has been a matter of life and death.

02:051,142 people died whilst homeless last year.

02:1174 children's deaths were connected to temporary accommodation in the five years to 2024.

02:1858 of them were babies under one.

02:22Everyone deserves a roof over their head.

02:25And children in the worst housing our country can offer deserve the attention of this house.

02:32To tackle the root causes of homelessness and break the cycle of failure,

02:36we must build more homes.

02:40We want to build 1.5 million new homes, including more social and affordable housing.

02:46That's more than that's been built for years.

02:48And this new programme could deliver around 300,000 social and affordable homes over its lifetime,

02:53with about 180,000 for social rent.

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