Andrew Gwynne's weekly column

On Monday of this week, I was delighted to welcome £20m in new funding to help rough sleepers and the homeless across the UK. 

With this increase, the funding for the Rough Sleeping Winter Pressures fund will triple from £10m to £30m, ensuring those that need it can get access to safe accommodation, a warm bed, and the support they need to get back on their feet.

Across the UK, we’re all aware of the acute housing shortage, whether we see it in increasing rents, in the rapid increase in house prices, or sadly, in the increasing numbers of those without a place to call home, forced to sleep rough. 

Too many of us find it too hard to put a roof over our heads. For example, in 2010, just under 1,800 people across the UK were listed as rough sleeping. Last year, that number was nearly 4,000.

I’m proud to be part of a government that recognises these issues as being paramount, and we’ve taken swift action to address them.

On rough sleeping, in December we increased council budgets by nearly £1bn to tackle rough sleeping, meaning Manchester and Tameside will receive over £19m in extra funding to tackle the issue and to turn the tide on homelessness.

On renting, last week we passed our landmark Renters Rights Bill, providing greater security and stability to over 11 million private renters, putting an end to no-fault evictions, stopping renters being ripped off by outrageous upfront costs, providing stronger protections for renters, and applying the Decent Homes Standard to the private rented sector, amongst a whole host of other changes to make the rented sector safer and more secure, and helping to increase living standards across the country. The bill passed in just under 6 months, something the Tories failed to pass in over 4 and a half years in government.

Perhaps most crucially, housebuilding, the UK has failed to meet its housing targets for years. Even when the Tories watered down said targets, they still failed to meet them. 

\The reality is that the UK doesn’t have enough homes for its growing population, and if we want our children and grandchildren to be able to have their own home, we need to act now.  

That’s why we’re reforming the planning system, investing over £3bn in housebuilding schemes, and increasing housebuilding targets for councils across the UK, to get Britain building again.

This government has a bold plan to tackle the housing crisis at all levels, ensuring all of us can have a safe place to call home.