Homelessness has a devastating impact on those involved, especially children, who can spend years in temporary accommodation just at that point in their lives when they need space to play and develop. That is why I am pleased the Government has developed a new cross-government strategy to tackle homelessness. I support this approach, which seeks to move away from a system focused on crisis response, to one that prevents homelessness in the first place.
I welcome the Government increasing funding for homelessness services by £233 million, bringing the total to nearly £1 billion. The 2025 Spending Review protected that level of investment until 2028-29 and provides £100 million of additional funding. As part of this, the Rough Sleeping Prevention and Recovery Grant provides more than £185 million to councils in 2025/26.
I was elected on a manifesto that promised to deliver the biggest increase in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation – vital to tackling homelessness. For this reason, I welcome the £39 billion announced at the Spending Review for the new Social and Affordable Homes Programme. This is the biggest long-term investment in social and affordable housing in recent memory and will help to deliver approximately 300,000 homes by 2036. The goal is that 60% of these homes will be for social rent.
Section 106 (S106) agreements with housing developers are an essential way to deliver social and affordable housing. Many Registered Providers have scaled back S106 acquisitions due to financial pressures and rising building costs. It is why Ministers have boosted Provider capacity and appetite to deliver S106 homes, including a 10-year rent settlement with convergence.
In 2024, the Government launched the Homes England Clearing Service to help buyers and sellers of S106 homes find each other more effectively. While there are positive signs of an increasing appetite among Providers to take on uncontracted and unsold S106 homes, I understand that this is a problem that Ministers are working to resolve, and they will set out further details in due course.
Best wishes
Rt Hon Hilary Benn
MP for Leeds South
Secretary of State for Northern Ireland