ADD2791 - Rough Sleeping Prevention and Recovery Grant funding 2025-26 – 2026-27

1.1.    Over the last year the Greater London Authority (GLA) and London Councils (LC) have developed the London Ending Homelessness Accelerator Programme (EHAP) to accelerate efforts to end homelessness in London by strengthening strategic coordination, building capacity, improving the use of data, improving the evidence base of what works to prevent homelessness in the capital (Appendix 1). 
1.2.    The objective of the EHAP is to ensure that homelessness in London is prevented, and where this is not possible, that it is only ever rare, brief and on-recurrent.
1.3.    The priorities of EHAP fall into three key areas – prevention, ending rough sleeping and tackling single homelessness and improving the quality, value and availability of accommodation (both temporary accommodation and supported housing) – and these will be supported by a plan of action setting out clear and deliverable goals. The Mayor’s Plan of Action to End Rough Sleeping is one of these plans of action.
1.4.    MHCLG has awarded the GLA £3.49m of RSPARG funding to support the delivery of the EHAP up until March 2027, with the intention that decisions on allocation and use of this funding are made in partnership with London Councils through the newly established EHAP structures. As such, the expenditure proposals outlined in this decision have been agreed by the EHAP Delivery Group.
1.5.    In August 2025, Mayoral Decision MD3386 delegated authority to the Assistant Director, Housing Programmes and Partnerships (in consultation with the Executive Director for Housing and Land, the Executive Director for Communities and Skills, and the Mayoral Delivery Board) to approve the receipt of additional funding from central government to expand or extend certain existing schemes contained in the Accommodation and Wider Support for Those Who Need it Most delivery plan, including through RSPARG, where the parameters of the scheme remain the same or similar. This delegation was subject to consultation with legal advisors and the GLA’s Chief Finance Officer and subsequently securing agreement from the Mayoral Delivery Board.  
1.6.    Under that decision, for the purposes of considering whether the parameters are similar as originally agreed with government, the Executive Director of Housing and Land should have regard to whether the outcomes to be delivered have changed significantly or there is a significant change to the attendant risks of the original programme.  The objectives of RSPARG funding remain the same as when funding from this source was first received through MD3331.  On this basis it is considered that the parameters of the programme remain the same or similar. The GLA’s legal advisors and Chief Finance Officer have been consulted regarding the proposed additional funding and the Mayoral Delivery Board’s agreement has been secured in respect of the same.  The Assistant Director, Housing Programmes and Partnerships therefore has delegated authority under MD3386 to make the decisions sought in this decision form.
 

2.1.    The funding will support the delivery of the Plan of Action to End Rough Sleeping, as a priority of the Ending Homelessness Accelerator Programme, both of which are projects within the Accommodation and Wider Support for Those Who Need It Most delivery plan. 
2.2.    The objectives, delivery outline, funding mechanism, and expected outcomes are summarised in Table 1. 

2.3.    Planned activity is subject to change based on further scoping and feasibility testing.  Several areas of delivery will require input of third parties.  This will be secured through appropriate grants in line with the Contracts and Funding Code (the “Code”).  
2.4.    Grant expenditure is projected across 2025-26-2026-27:

3.1.    Under section 149 of the Equality Act 2010, the Mayor and GLA must comply with the public sector equality duty (PSED) and must have due regard to the need to:
•    eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation and any other conduct that is prohibited by or under the Equality Act
•    advance equality of opportunity between people who share a relevant protected characteristic and those who do not
•    foster good relations between people who share a relevant protected characteristic and those who do not.
3.2.    The protected characteristics are: age, disability, gender re-assignment, pregnancy and maternity, marriage and civil partnership (but only in respect of the requirements to have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination), race (ethnic or national origins, colour or nationality), religion or belief (including lack of belief), sex, and sexual orientation. 
3.3.    Consideration of the PSED is not a one-off task. The duty must be fulfilled before taking a decision, at the time of taking a decision, and after the decision has been taken, to ensure that equalities impacts are kept under ongoing review.
3.4.    The London Ending Homelessness Accelerator is expected to have a positive impact in improving equalities though its embedded delivery of key elements of the Mayor’s Rough Sleeping Plan of Action.
3.5.    Equalities considerations for the Rough Sleeping Plan of Action are captured within the Accommodation and Wider Support for Those Who Need It Most delivery plan.
3.6.    The Rough Sleeping Plan of Action has been subject to an Equalities Impact Assessment (EqIA) (referenced in 3.7 of the Accommodation and Wider Support for Those Who Need It Most Delivery Plan). Headline insights include:
•    just under half of people rough sleeping in London is 2023/24 had a mental health support need (48 per cent), 56 per cent had an alcohol or drug related support need and 30 per cent had more than one of alcohol, drugs and mental health support needs
•    homelessness and housing insecurity disproportionately affects people from Black and minority ethnic communities, and research has highlighted how direct acts of racism, racial discrimination and institutional racism contribute to homelessness
•    4.7 per cent of people seen sleeping rough in London in 2023-24 were of Gypsy, Roma or Traveller ethnicity – the vast majority being of a Roma background specifically (4.3 per cent). This compares to 0.004 per cent of the general population in London identifying as Roma in the 2021 Census
•    non-UK nationals have consistently represented approximately half of all people seen rough sleeping in London. In 2023-24, 45 per cent of people rough sleeping in London were UK nationals
•    women are much more likely than men to be the victims of high-risk of severe domestic abuse and younger people are more likely to be subject to interpersonal violence.
3.7.    These insights have informed the strategic leadership principles that underly the Plan of Action: 
•    No Wrong Door aims to work towards a London where people get support as early as possible and in as consistent a way as possible, reducing the complexity and lottery of provision many people experience 
•    No First Night Out aims to ensure that nobody should have to sleep rough to access the support they need 
•    Right Intervention for the right person aims to ensure that interventions are well targeted at those who need them, and to ensure there is a route to support for everyone at risk, reducing the barriers faced due to immigration status, support needs, gender, race or ethnicity.
3.8.    The use of inclusive data design and specialist routes off the streets, as set out in the Rough Sleeping Plan of Action, are likely to benefit younger people, Deaf and disabled people, trans and gender non-conforming people, women and those from Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities. In addition, preventing rough sleeping for people leaving asylum accommodation should also improve outcomes for young refugees who face structural barriers when seeking homelessness support.
3.9.    This decision will also enable input from people with lived experience of homelessness to shape policy and commissioning decisions. This input is expected to surface considerations on equity and accessibility of services based on a range of experiences, including from people with protected characteristics.  
 

Risks and issues
4.1.    The following programme-level risks to the delivery of the London Ending Homelessness Accelerator Programme, and within it the Rough Sleeping Plan of Action, most relevant to activity funded via the RSPARG Top Up have been identified:

Links to Mayoral strategies and priorities
4.2.    The planned activity outlined in this decision support delivery of the following Mayoral strategies:
•    the Mayor’s Housing Strategy, including the key aims to build more homes for Londoners, deliver more genuinely affordable homes and tackle homelessness and help rough sleepers
•    the Mayor’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy, which sets out an aspiration to work with councils, government and the voluntary sector to prevent and relieve homelessness and to ensure there is a route of the streets for all people sleeping rough. This strategy also highlights migrants and refugees as a group who face additional inequalities that intersect with their protected characteristics
•    the Mayor’s Rough Sleeping Plan of Action 2025-2030, which sets out a new approach to rough sleeping prevention, increased systems leadership for a ‘no wrong door approach’ and scaling up targeted routes off the streets for those facing additional barriers. 
Consultations 
4.3.    In developing the Rough Sleeping Plan of Action, the GLA engaged over 90 stakeholders across different sectors through consultation events and a call for evidence. In addition, a Lived Experience Advisory Group made up of individuals with personal experience of homelessness and rough sleeping were consulted on the Plan of Action, including through testing principles and interventions. The feedback from these organisations and individuals has informed the development of the Plan of Action and this EqIA.
4.4.    The EHAP has been co-produced with London Councils, London Boroughs, and a range of wider public sector, voluntary, and governmental stakeholders. The ‘engagement phase’ of the programme was carried out between September 2024-February 2025, with the ‘design phase’ from March-August 2025. The first meeting of the Programme Delivery Board was held on 22 September 2025, with system wide representation, to approve the Strategic Delivery Plan. 

5.1     Approval is sought from Assistant Director, Housing Programmes and Partnerships for receipt and expenditure of up to £3.49m funding from MHCLG. This funding is expected to be granted to the GLA in November 2025 as per notification of funding letter from MHCLG. The funding will be spent as per details in section two of this Decision, this consists of expenditure on staffing salary costs, grant funding, research, testing and other non-pay costs. As per the table under paragraph 2.4 as expenditure will span across 2025-26 and 2026-27 any unspent grant funding at the end of 2025-26 will be carried into 2026-27 via approval from MHCLG and year end accrual procedures and guidelines.
5.2     All GLA staffing position updates relating to this funding should go through the GLA Post Approvals process.
5.3     This funding and expenditure will be managed by the Specialist Housing and Services team within Housing and Land directorate. All appropriate budget adjustments will be made.