Prince William took his 12-year-old son, Prince George, to The Passage in Westminster on 16 December to help prepare a Christmas lunch, with George signing the visitors’ book on the same page used by Princess Diana in 1993. The Passage reports it supported 3,007 people between April 2024 and March 2025, while William has been its Royal Patron since 2019.
England’s legal framework is anchored in the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017. Councils must work with anyone homeless or threatened with homelessness within 56 days, through statutory prevention and relief duties set out in the Code of Guidance. A ‘duty to refer’ requires specified public bodies, including prisons, hospitals and Jobcentres, to notify a local housing authority (with consent) when a service user is at risk.
Official estimates show 4,667 people sleeping rough on a single night in autumn 2024, a 20% rise year on year. Nearly half were in London and the South East, with the largest regional increase in London. Alongside the annual snapshot, DLUHC now publishes a monthly rough sleeping data framework to track whether rough sleeping is prevented, and where it occurs whether it is rare, brief and non‑recurring.
Temporary accommodation use continues to set records. On 31 March 2025 there were 131,140 households in temporary accommodation in England, including an estimated 169,050 children. London recorded 19.9 households in temporary accommodation per 1,000 households, compared with 2.8 per 1,000 in the rest of England.
Funding streams are significant and multi‑year. For 2025/26 the Homelessness Prevention Grant totals £694.17m following top‑ups announced in October and December 2025, with a new requirement that 49% of each allocation is spent on prevention, relief and staffing rather than temporary accommodation. Winter pressures allocations in early 2025 added further support, complementing the Rough Sleeping Initiative, accommodation programmes and treatment grants set out in the government’s Ending Rough Sleeping strategy.
What councils fund under prevention varies by case. DLUHC’s statistics show prevention activity ranges from negotiation with landlords to short‑term financial help to reduce arrears so households can remain in their home; in the first quarter of 2025 this enabled 6,710 households to stay put.
Prince William’s Homewards programme is a parallel, philanthropic effort testing localised prevention at scale over five years across six locations: Aberdeen; Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole; Lambeth; Newport; Northern Ireland; and Sheffield. Each location can access up to £500,000 in seed funding managed by Homeless Link and is supported by a dedicated local lead. Evaluation is being delivered by Ipsos UK, Renaisi and Groundswell to share learning nationally.
Measuring impact is central to both government and philanthropy. DLUHC’s rough sleeping data framework sets eight indicators covering prevention, rarity, brevity and non‑recurrence, developed with the Centre for Homelessness Impact. Practitioners can also use the Centre’s evidence standards to judge the strength and cost‑effectiveness of interventions.
Charities act as key delivery partners. The Passage’s ‘No Night Out’ scheme aims to secure emergency accommodation for people at risk of a first night on the streets, while its dedicated team supports survivors of modern slavery who are homeless or at risk. Westminster Abbey and others have recently backed this prevention work.
The policy environment will shift again in 2026. The Renters’ Rights Act 2025 abolishes section 21 ‘no‑fault’ evictions from 1 May 2026 as a new periodic tenancy regime starts, with investigatory powers for councils commencing on 27 December 2025. DLUHC has also consulted on funding arrangements for the Homelessness Prevention Grant from 2026/27. Delivery teams should plan staffing, enforcement and tenancy sustainment pathways against these timetables.