Sleeping rough puts children’s lives at risk and gives added urgency to the debate on how to end homelessness

I was shocked to see recent ITV reports by Dan Hewitt that growing numbers of families with children that are homeless are approaching the charity Crisis after being turned away by their councils, and that some of those families have been forced to sleep rough.

Government policy is clear, the law is clear, basic decency is clear. No child should have to sleep rough on the streets of this country.

In my time as a Shadow Homelessness Minister and now as co-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Ending Homelessness, I have heard many heartbreaking stories but I was profoundly shocked to see that the cases identified by Crisis included children as young as four and a child with epilepsy.

I acted quickly to apply for a debate at Westminster which I led last week because I believed it was important that MPs had a chance to debate this and the government to put on record the action that councils must take if families with children seek help when homeless.

I don’t believe that anyone goes to work wanting to refuse help to a child facing rough sleeping, but the fact this is happening shows just how broken our system is.

The government published its National Plan to End Homelessness in December. The commitments in it are welcome and reflect the proposals that my APPG made in its own report, Homes, Support, Prevention, published in the autumn such as

• clear targets to halve rough sleeping
• end the use of B&Bs as long-term housing for families and
• prevent people becoming homeless when they leave hospitals and prisons.

However, we still need more clarity about what action the government intends to take to meet those targets.

Underlying everything is the pressing need for more social housing. In part, that is about stepping up building targets to reach the target of 90,000 social homes per year that housing experts agree are necessary to meet the level of demand. I would like to see more action on empty homes as well.

New housing has to be affordable though. Research by the estate agents, Savills, found that housing costs for private renters have increased by 27% over the last five years.

I would like to see the government address the low level of Local Housing Allowance (LHA) which means that there is an average gap of £200 per month between LHA and the median rent for a home.

In my own constituency, Liverpool Wavertree, LHA does not fully meet the rents of 55% of households receiving the housing element of Universal Credit.

That means they are likely to be either priced out of housing or build up arrears and it was striking that in a report just out the debt charity, StepChange, has highlighted a year-on-year rise in 2025 of 15% in the average level of rent arrears.

If people are then pushed into homelessness, they can be trapped in temporary accommodation at much greater expense to the state. A classic false economy.

There are other key drivers of homelessness. The reduction in the time that people are allowed to find new accommodation once granted asylum is a major concern.

So is the difficulty that many victims of domestic abuse can face in finding safe accommodation. Both of these issues highlight the need for government departments to work closely together to tackle homelessness, especially where people have complex needs.

That is why I am calling for the government to roll out Housing First across the country, an approach that provides wrapround support to enable people to rebuild their lives. The evidence from pilots in Liverpool, Manchester and the West Midlands is that it clearly works with government analysis showing a tenancy sustainment rate of 84%.

Housing is about more than just a roof over your head. We know the damage that growing up in substandard, unhealthy, overcrowded temporary accommodation with no space to do homework can have on children.

Sleeping rough puts children’s lives at risk. I know the determination of the Minister for Homelessness to act and I hope that these disturbing reports of children sleeping rough will give added urgency to the debate on how to end homelessness.