John Healey MP, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Housing, commenting on Government plans for new homelessness prevention schemes, said:

“This is not new money and will do little to help hard-pressed homelessness services trying to get people off the streets and into safety. The Prime Minister could do much more good by backing Labour’s pledge to put an end to rough sleeping, take personal charge of a new national strategy and start by acting on Labour’s plan for an extra 4000 homes for those moving on from homeless hostels.

“I challenged the Prime Minister to do this in a letter last week, which she still hasn’t answered.

“The hard truth for the Prime Minister is that six years of Tory housing failure has caused this homelessness crisis, in which rough sleeping has doubled since 2010 after falling to a record low under Labour.”