Ministers will today commit the government to eradicating rough sleeping throughout England by 2012, the first firm deadline
for dealing with the most acute manifestation of homelessness since Tony Blair promised in 1997 to reduce the number of rough sleepers to ‘as close as possible to zero’. The official headcount fell from 1,850 in 1997 to about 500 in 2003, when progress stalled. Iain Wright, the homelessness minister, will tell the Crisis annual conference of plans to spend £200 million on schemes to encourage rough sleepers into housing and employment.
Tagged: homelessness