Ex-rough sleeper tells minister not enough being done to help people on streets

Jamie Stockley approached minister Felicity Buchan at an event for homeless charities and providers in Westminster.

Homelessness minister Felicity Buchan speaking at the Emmanuel Centre in Westminster, London, at an event organised by Homeless Link (Aine Fox/PA) (PA Wire)

A former rough sleeper has told the homelessness minister not enough is being done to help people on the streets who he said were given “false hope” when the Government stepped up help temporarily during the pandemic.

Felicity Buchan insisted tackling homelessness remains a “huge priority” for the Conservative Party, but acknowledged that a rise in rough sleeping confirmed by official figures last week was “disappointing”.

Statistics showed that 3,898 people were estimated to be sleeping rough on a single night in autumn 2023 in England – a rise of 27% from 2022 and an increase of 2,130 people since 2010 when the snapshot data was first recorded.

Jamie Stockley approached the minister at an event for homeless charities and providers in Westminster on Tuesday and told her he had spent nine years sleeping rough “whether that was in a tent or in a shop doorway”.

He said the UK is a “top tier country” where homelessness “should not be a thing”.

As Ms Buchan exited the event at the Emmanuel Centre, the 35-year-old told her: “I’m sorry but the Conservatives are not doing enough, there isn’t enough housing today.”

The minister replied: “This is a huge priority for Government and our objective is to get people off the streets.

We’re supposed to be a top-tier country. Homelessness should not be a thing in this country regardless of who you are or where you come from

Jamie Stockley, former rough sleeper

“Now clearly the numbers in the last count were 3,898. Every one is one too many. We’re doing everything that we can in terms of outreach workers, hostel provision.”

Mr Stockley, who is based in St Albans and now volunteers with the housing association which helped him, interjected to say: “But you housed everyone during Covid. I’ve spent 9.5 years with the false hopes of the Government.

“You housed people through Covid and when Covid ended you took that away from them.

“They don’t trust the Government because they were given false hope and it was taken away from them. They ended up back on the streets.”

He said he understood “you’re trying to help”, but added: “I just need to understand why it’s taken so long from there to get to this point, when there’s so many people out there (sleeping rough).”

We now need details (from political parties) - concrete and specific pledges that will be effective at reversing the current appalling trends and shifting the focus from crisis management to prevention

Fiona Colley, Homeless Link

The Everyone In scheme was launched at the start of the pandemic to protect rough sleepers and helped thousands of people off the streets with many moving into longer-term accommodation.

Ms Buchan restated that the Government is “so focused” on the issue, saying it has invested in more supported housing and more wraparound services.

She added: “I’m sorry that you’ve had a bad experience but I just want to let you know that we are so focused on trying to solve these problems.”

Mr Stockley said: “I get that and I do hope that it does get better because we’re in the United Kingdom, we’re supposed to be a top-tier country. Homelessness should not be a thing in this country regardless of who you are or where you come from.”

Ms Buchan replied: “Absolutely, I completely agree.”

An expert group last year predicted the Government will not meet its target to end rough sleeping by the end of this Parliament, which was a 2019 manifesto commitment.

Ms Buchan and her counterpart, shadow homelessness minister Mike Amesbury, both made speeches at the event, organised by Homeless Link and Riverside Housing Association, stating their commitment to tackling housing issues including temporary accommodation.

But neither made a firm commitment to build 90,000 social homes a year, a pledge charities have said must be made by the next government.

Fiona Colley, director of social change at Homeless Link, said while the commitment to work on the issue of homelessness from both politicians was welcome, details are necessary.

She said: “We now need details – concrete and specific pledges that will be effective at reversing the current appalling trends and shifting the focus from crisis management to prevention, so that everyone has a safe, secure home and people are not subjected to the traumas of homelessness in the first place.”

John Glenton, executive director of care and support at Riverside, said he was “heartened that politicians from both major parties showed they understand the need for more social homes today”.

He added: “However, words must turn into action. We will be scrutinising the manifestos and progress on delivering more social homes in the coming months and years to make sure that more desperately needed social homes are delivered.”

New figures published by the Government on Tuesday showed there were 86,945 children aged under 10 in temporary accommodation in England at the end of June 2023.

Some 19,430 of these children were under one-year-old.

The data came a day after the Households in Temporary Accommodation All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) said 55 children had died between April 1 2019 and March 31 2023, where living in temporary accommodation was recorded as a possible contributory factor.