A smarter approach to homelessness
Prioritising prevention in the 2025 spending review.
This report looks at trends in spending on homelessness prevention programmes, assesses the barriers to these and makes recommendations for how these can be overcome.
Homelessness is an issue that blights the lives of many people, including families and children. A cost of living crisis, on top of a decades-long housing crisis, has left hundreds of thousands without adequate or safe, settled accommodation. This severely affects their quality of life now and prospects for the future, while resulting in a growing financial burden on the local authorities and public services on whom many of these people rely.
The dedicated efforts of the homelessness sector are commendable, but evidence suggests they alone cannot provide the long-term, systemic solutions required. They should not be expected to. This is where wider government action is required, and Labour’s first spending review presents a crucial opportunity to act. This report, produced in partnership by the Institute for Government and Centre for Homelessness Impact, sets out how the government can make the most of this opportunity.
