Portsmouth MPs Stephen Morgan and Amanda Martin have backed plans announced in The Budget to increase funding to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping in Portsmouth.
In The Budget, the government committed £233 million of additional spending in 2025-26 on homelessness, taking total spending to £1 billion.
The investment was welcomed by homelessness charity Crisis which called it “a hugely promising step forward as we work to address the twin crises of housing and homelessness.”
Homelessness charities St Mungo’s and Homeless Link also welcomed the news with the latter, saying “encouragingly homelessness was one of the key priority areas across all of Government for this phase of the Spending Review.”
Under the Conservative government, total homelessness reached record levels, with 117,450 households (including a record 151,630 children) in Temporary Accommodation as of March 2024.
The number of people sleeping rough in England has increased for the second year in a row and is 27% higher than last year.
In Portsmouth, the council has consistently failed to hit its housing targets, causing many in the city to live in insecure and unstable homes.
To address the housing crisis, historic levels of housebuilding are needed which is why the Labour Government has committed to building 1.5 million quality homes over this Parliament.
At the Budget, Chancellor Rachel Reeves also announced a cross-government taskforce to address homelessness and rough sleeping in the long-term ahead of the spring Spending Review.
This follows up on the commitment in the Labour manifesto to develop a new cross-government strategy, working with Mayors and Councils across the country, to put Britain back on track to ending homelessness.
Commenting, Portsmouth South MP Stephen Morgan said:
“After years of Conservative neglect and local government failure on house building, homelessness levels are far too high in our city, leaving a devastating impact on those affected.
“This is an issue we can’t waste any time in addressing, so I am delighted to see the immediate action this Labour government is taking to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping in our city.
“Alongside this investment, this government will deliver the biggest increase in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation and will work with Mayors and councils to put our country back on track to ending homelessness.”
Commenting, Portsmouth North MP Amanda Martin said:
“There are far too many in our city that have been left homeless by years of Tory failure, from families in temporary accommodation, to care-leavers and veterans sleeping on the streets.
“A chronic shortage of housing supply, skyrocketing private rents, and public services cut to the bone have all contributed to the homelessness crisis we inherited from the Conservatives.
“Labour is now taking action. We are providing funding to protect those currently experiencing homelessness, including an emergency £10mn fund announced on 6 November to help councils ease rough sleeping winter pressures.
“Beyond this winter, I am proud that this government has a long-term plan to deliver the high quality and affordable housing that we desperately need in Portsmouth.”
A housing package was also announced at The Budget with plans to deliver up to 5,000 new affordable social homes with £500 million in new funding for the Affordable Homes Programme. This comes ahead of the Government’s Housing Strategy due in the Spring.
This will lay the foundations for the manifesto commitment to deliver the biggest increase in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation, and to support councils and housing associations to build their capacity and make a greater contribution to affordable housing supply.
