New Government - New Hope?
The UK is in the early phase of a new government. After 14 years of Tory leadership, five Prime Ministers, a coalition, Brexit and a steep rise in homelessness and rough sleeping, the country voted for Labour to take power and for Keir Starmer to lead Britain for the next five years.
With the cabinet appointed and the Kings Speech in the rearview mirror, we look to explore what the new government could mean for homelessness and rough sleeping moving forward. Westminster defines rough sleeping as “sleeping outside or in places not designed for habitation”. Unfortunately, despite efforts of previous governments, the issue of rough sleeping has reached the point of crisis in the UK. As of February 2024, government figures estimate that 3898 people were sleeping rough in England last year, an increase of over 25% from the previous years figures. According to Crisis, this is 61% higher than the numbers in 2014 and 120% higher than the figures when data collection began in 2010.
The General Election in July officially signalled the failure of the Johnson government pledge to “end rough sleeping within this Parliament” in its Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Policy Paper released in September 2022. The Tories did not achieve this goal, however there is a reason for optimism under a Starmer’s landslide Labour majority.
An initial reason for optimism is Labour’s pledge for a Renters Rights Bill. On 17th July, the Kings Speech was given to the House of Lords. In the speech, the Head of State outlines the policy plans of the new government and the issue of renters rights was a noteworthy snippet from the King’s Speech. The Monarch stated that “legislation will be introduced to give greater rights and protections to people renting their homes, including ending no-fault evictions and reforming grounds for possession.” Labour’s pledge to end no-fault evictions for renters is a positive measure to prevent people falling into rough sleeping and homelessness for reasons unforeseen.
Moreover, Labour’s 2024 manifesto appears to reflect the values of the last Labour government under Blair and Brown. Under New Labour, households living in temporary accommodation between the second half of 2005 and the first six months of 2010 halved even amidst the financial crisis of 2008 (The Big Issue). The importance of ending rough sleeping also appears to be near the top of the agenda for the current Labour government. In their manifesto, Labour committed to delivering the biggest increase in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation and to prioritising the building of new socially rented homes. In addition, before his re-election as Mayor of London in May, Sadiq Khan pledged to end rough sleeping in London by 2030 if he were re- elected. According to Shelter, 1.24 million social homes were built in the 1960’s compared to 150,000 in the 2010’s. The shortage of secure social housing is undeniably a significant contributor to the rampant levels of rough sleeping and homelessness.
The commitments made by the Starmer government and the Mayor of London will be judged over the coming years. It is difficult to heap the Prime Minister with praise when these pledges simply amount to words so early in his premiership. Despite this, there is unequivocally reason for optimism. The Prime Minister’s parliamentary majority of 172 means he should not face overwhelming difficulty in passing legislation unless there is major rebellion from his own party. With this in mind, it is fair to surmise that if the new government allocates the resources necessary to significantly reduce the numbers of rough sleepers in the UK, there is no reason for us to doubt that a real impact can be made and the numbers of rough sleepers can significantly decrease over the coming years.