Ending Homelessness: What Needs to Happen Now

Homelessness cannot wait.

Two years on from the General Election, homelessness remains one of the most urgent challenges facing our communities.

We welcome the growing focus on preventing homelessness and ending rough sleeping. But ambitions alone are not enough. Real change requires investment, leadership and long-term solutions.

At The Passage, we see every day what works. Through services like No Night Out and PA T H, we know homelessness can be prevented before it becomes a crisis.

That’s why we’re calling for action in three key areas.

We know that early intervention changes lives. Services that prevent homelessness before it starts not only deliver better outcomes for individuals, they reduce pressure on public services and save money in the long term.

Innovative approaches such as No Night Out show that acting early can stop people from experiencing the trauma and danger of rough sleeping. The Government should continue to invest in proven homelessness prevention services and support their expansion across the country.

Homelessness does not sit within a single department.

Housing, health, employment, social care, justice and education all have a role to play in preventing homelessness.

National and local leaders must work together with charities, communities and people with lived experience to deliver lasting change. Clear accountability, shared responsibility and measurable outcomes are essential if commitments are to become reality. The Government’s National Plan to End Homelessness recognises the importance of a cross-government approach

Everyone deserves a safe, secure and affordable home.

Without a significant increase in social housing, too many people will continue to face housing insecurity and homelessness. The shortage of genuinely affordable homes remains one of the biggest drivers of homelessness across the UK.

We need a bold, long-term approach that places social housing at the heart of the solution and ensures more people can access a stable home.

Why this matters in 2026

Every day of the year, The Passage has the privilege of witnessing homelessness being ended for those who come to our doors. Yet it feels like homelessness has become almost acceptable – and it’s not. By working together, with a clear and radical plan, we know homelessness can be prevented and ended.

While the Government has set out a long-term National Plan to End Homelessness, councils and frontline organisations continue to face significant pressures from rising demand, temporary accommodation costs and shortages of affordable housing.

The Passage sees every day how homelessness affects lives. We also see the solutions that work.

Now is the moment to ensure that preventing and ending homelessness remains a national priority.

The progress we are making

No Night Out

Since launching No Night Out in 2022, we have prevented over 470 people from sleeping on the streets of London, helping them into emergency accommodation. 94% of people supported through this scheme have remained in their new homes, providing a vital ray of hope that homelessness is not inevitable.

This scheme has been recognised in the Mayor of London’s Rough Sleeping Strategy, and is being shared as a model of good practice amongst other homelessness organisations – to encourage them to adopt a similar approach.

No Night Out The Passage Homelessness Prevention Scheme

Support our work

Prevention, Advice and Transformation Hub

We recently launched PATH (Prevention, Advice and Transformation Hub), our new service designed to change the way in which people receive homelessness support.

Often, many people struggle long before they reach the streets, and support only becomes available once they are already in crisis.

Working in partnership with Westminster City Council, PATH brings different homelessness services together into one simple, joined‑up system. Instead of navigating multiple agencies or waiting until someone is sleeping rough, PATH helps people get the right support as early as possible.