DD2813 Mayor’s Rough Sleeping Services

1.1.    In 2026-27, there were 12,938 Londoners sleeping rough,2 with hundreds more in off-the-streets and supported accommodation. 

1.2.    The Mayor’s Rough Sleeping Plan of Action (the Plan) was published in May 2025. It sets out his commitment to end rough sleeping by 2030 – ensuring a No Wrong Door approach across London, preventing rough sleeping wherever possible, and improving routes off the streets. 

1.3.    The GLA Rough Sleeping Programme delivers a range of activities and interventions to support this commitment. The services relevant to this decision seek to build on the Rough Sleeping Programme linked to specific actions set out in the Plan:

•    improve early identification of people before they sleep rough, through a new phoneline to prevent rough sleeping, and by identifying people at risk in settings such as food banks
•    increase capacity of specialist advice, and improve coordination of interventions, to prevent rough sleeping among migrants and people leaving institutional settings (such as prisons and hospitals)
•    add specialist capacity for routes off the streets to better meet the needs of individuals who face barriers due to their nationality, sexuality, age, gender, or other characteristics.

1.4.    The GLA is in receipt of £76.9 million Homelessness, Rough Sleeping and Domestic Abuse Grant (HRSDAG) from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG). This funding forms part of the GLA’s integrated settlement, and covers the following functional responsibilities: 

•    setting the regional ambition on homelessness, in partnership with local authorities
•    developing regional structures to deliver these ambitions
•    encouraging a preventative approach to homelessness and rough sleeping across public sector reform
•    convening homelessness and rough sleeping partners (including those in the voluntary, community and faith sectors) to strengthen services across the region
•    delivering, as appropriate, region-specific interventions that will enhance the statutory work of local authorities.

1.5.    In March 2026, the Mayor announced an additional £8 million to the GLA’s core rough sleeping budget to increase interventions to end rough sleeping, in line with the Plan.

1.4.    As per paragraph 1.3 of Mayoral Decision (MD) 3386: Delivery Plan – Accommodation and Wider Support for Those Who Need It Most (August 2025), the Homelessness and Rough Sleeping programme falls within the Accommodation and Wider Support for Those Who Need It Most (AWS) delivery plan. MD3386 approved that delivery plan and appointed the Assistant Director, Housing Programmes and Partnerships, as the Senior Responsible Owner (SRO). 

1.5.    MD3386 also 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 delivery plan, where the parameters of the scheme remain the same or similar, after consulting with legal advisers and the GLA’s Chief Finance Officer, and subsequently securing agreement from the Mayoral Delivery Board.

1.6.    MD 3496 approved a change to the SRO for the AWS programme to the Executive Director for Housing and Land to reflect the latest organisational structure.

1.7.    This decision relates to previous decisions, specifically: 

•    MD3386 (August 2025), which approved the establishment of the AWS programme 
•    Assistant Director Decision (ADD) 2800 (January 2026), which approved the receipt of £76.9 million HRSDAG funding for the purposes of AWS programme delivery; and expenditure of up to £28.29 million from 2026-27 to 2029-30
•    MD3486 (March 2026), which approved receipt of the GLA’s Integrated Settlement funding from MHCLG.
 

2.1.    The objectives of the Mayor’s Rough Sleeping Programme are to take steps to support system-wide work to end rough sleeping in London by 2030, with the aim of: 

•    preventing rough sleeping wherever possible 
•    ensuring that rough sleeping is only ever brief
•    ensuring the rough sleeping is non-recurring. 

2.2.    The approvals in this decision will contribute specifically to the activities outlined in the table below: 

A detailed breakdown of the expenditure approved by this decision can be seen at Appendix 1.

Mayor’s Specialist Rough Sleeping Fund 

2.3.    This decision seeks to extend the resource and delivery with a further £1,202,820 funding from the GLA Rough Sleeping core budget, for what will be called the Mayor’s Specialist Rough Sleeping Fund. This decision provides an additional £1,410 in each of 2026-27 and 2027-28, on top of what was previously approved by ADD2800; and also approves the spend of £1.2 million in 2028-29. This will enable annual grant funding of £1.2 million for projects over three years. A grant prospectus will be published by August 2026, with a grant-funding decision due to be made by September 2026. A further Equalities Impact Assessment will be completed prior to the finalisation of the fund parameters and publication of the prospectus, ensuring that equality considerations are fully reflected in the design and delivery of the fund.

2.4.    The funding aims to increase specialist support and emergency accommodation as part of the Mayor’s Ending Homelessness Hub network, with a focus on women and those with the protected characteristic of gender reassignment. The funding will deliver the Mayor’s commitment to increase specialist capacity for routes off the streets to better meet the needs of individuals who face barriers due to their gender or other characteristics. 

StreetLink London prevention phoneline

2.5.    StreetLink London is a phoneline, open to anyone who is rough sleeping and seeking rapid advice and support. In line with the Plan, this service is being remodelled as a prevention phoneline, to ensure those at risk of rough sleeping can also use the service. 

2.6.    StreetLink London is currently grant-funded by the GLA, to St Mungo’s, until 31 January 2027. A remodelled service will come into force within the new Crisis Prevention and Response Service from 1 February 2027. Work has begun to test how StreetLink London could operate as a prevention phoneline. This includes new triage and assessment criteria, and additional interventions. 

2.7.    Testing the prevention elements of the phoneline has shown that additional capacity is required to meet expected increase in demand. This decision will enable £360,000 additional resource from the GLA Rough Sleeping core budget for into StreetLink London, operated by St Mungo’s. Of this, £60,000 will be spent between July 2026 and January 2027, with £150,000 spent in each year of the new contract (2027-28 and 2028-29).

TfL Outreach 

2.8.    The GLA currently funds street outreach workers within TfL property. These workers target people who are be bedded down in major transport hubs and/or the transport network. 

2.9.    This capacity is embedded within the Rapid Response Outreach Team which is currently contracted by the GLA to Thames Reach until 31 January 2027. The service will be remodelled, and integrated with StreetLink London, within the new Crisis Prevention and Response Service from 1 February 2027. 

2.10.    This decision will enable £260,000 additional resource, from the GLA Rough Sleeping core budget, into TfL outreach via the Rapid Response Outreach Team. Of this, £60,000 will be spent between July 2026 and January 2027 by Thames Reach, with £200,000 spent within the new contract from 1 February 2027 to 31 March 2029. 

Private Rented Sector Tenancy Rescue Service 

2.11.    The Plan sets out the Mayor’s commitment to prevent rough sleeping wherever possible. 

2.12.    The GLA currently commissions a Private Rented Sector Tenancy Sustainment Team (PRS TST) service, contracted to support people moving into new PRS tenancies. The service aims to settle and sustain those tenancies. However, it does not provide a tenancy rescue service for already-established, at-risk tenancies. 

2.13.    Despite this, the service receives a significant volume of tenancy rescue requests and referrals (which are currently not accepted). This evidences clear demand, within the homelessness sector, for a tenancy rescue service. Additionally, the latest CHAIN data shows that 22.3 per cent of people who slept rough for the first time in 2025-26 (1,111 people) did so as a result of losing PRS tenancy. A tenancy rescue service would therefore meet the aim of preventing homelessness and rough sleeping. Similarly, 22.4 per cent of people who had previously slept rough  and secured long-term accommodation, and subsequently returned to rough sleeping (346 people), reported that PRS was their last settled base, before they returned to rough sleeping. As such, a tenancy rescue service would also be expected to meet the aim of preventing people returning to rough sleeping after they have achieved settled accommodation. 

2.14.    ADD2800, decision 2d, approved procurement activity for a new PRS TST contract, with the service to start by 1 April 2027. The service specification used in that procurement activity included a Specific Option in the contract to add a ‘tenancy rescue’ element to the service. The procurement process, including the Specific Option, is ongoing; the GLA expects to award a contract to the successful bidder by November 2026, with the core PRS TST service mobilised by 1 April 2027. 

2.15.    This decision approves spend of up to £1.75 million of additional Mayoral funding in 2027-28 and 2028-29 for a PRS tenancy rescue, by exercise of the Specific Option in the PRS TST contract service, with the successful bidder taken from the procurement process that is currently live. 

Homes Off The Streets housing-led support 

2.16.    Goal 4 of the Plan is to “Deliver the right mix of supported, specialist and independent housing to meet diverse needs to end rough sleeping”. This is supported by two specific relevant actions, which commit to a new Homes Off The Streets (HOTS) programme: 

•    Action 7: Lead a new HOTS programme, to provide the long-term housing solutions and support to help people move on from hostels or away from the streets – including funding the repair of up to 500 empty social homes in need of refurbishment, for people at greatest risk of rough sleeping.
•    Action 8: Improve access to accommodation with support – including coordination and move-on from hostels, shelters, and off the street – by unlocking access to the PRS and increasing specialist supported housing options:

o    As a result of this, and the same commitment in the AWS delivery plan, the GLA aims to launch HOTS, a capital and revenue grant funding programme, in late 2026-27. 
o    The ‘revenue for support’ element of HOTS will seek to fund eligible bidding organisations to deliver housing-led interventions within the homes that receive capital funding through the programme. 
o    This decision approves allocation of £2.448 million of additional Mayoral funding in 2027-28 and 2028-29 to the HOTS programme budget, to be bid for and allocated via the HOTS programme bidding process that will launch in late 2026-27. Individual allocations will be approved via the governance processes that will be developed for the HOTS programme as it is designed during late 2026.

Specialist Immigration Advice Services 

2.17.    The SIAS will provide critical immigration advice to those at risk of, or experiencing, rough sleeping, to support a route away from the streets. As per the Plan, this intervention provides specialist advice to prevent rough sleeping among migrants, as well as supporting routes off the streets for those facing additional barriers due to nationality, and other characteristics. 

2.18.    As per ADD2800 and DD2808, current Subregional Immigration Advice Services are grant-funded until 30 June 2027, with procurement of new services taking place in 2026-27. This decision seeks approval for expenditure to enable procurement of the new SIAS services from July 2027 to June 2029, of up to £6.076 million.

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 for 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 reassignment, 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.    The Specialist Housing and Services Unit has conducted an Equalities Impact Assessment (EqIA) for the rough sleeping programme of services and to inform new funding and service design decisions. A further Equalities Impact Assessment will be completed prior to the finalisation of the Mayor’s Specialist Rough Sleeping Fund parameters and publication of the prospectus, ensuring that equality considerations are fully reflected in the design and delivery of the fund.

3.4.    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.

3.5.    People at risk of, or experiencing, rough sleeping are disproportionately likely to share one or more protected characteristics; and experience multiple forms of disadvantage. Evidence from the GLA’s rough sleeping data, national evidence and the Plan demonstrates the following:

•    Young adults: Younger people face distinct risks of rough sleeping, particularly at transition points from institutional settings such as local authority care, prison, hospital or asylum accommodation, where there may be insufficient on-support. They may also face affordability barriers (including the Shared Accommodation Rate), insecure employment and family breakdown. Evidence also indicates that young Black people are disproportionately represented among those experiencing rough sleeping, reflecting wider structural inequalities. 
•    Disability: Many people sleeping rough experience physical disabilities, long-term health conditions, learning disabilities or mental ill health. These needs can both contribute to the risk of rough sleeping and be exacerbated by it – particularly where individuals face barriers accessing healthcare and appropriate support services. 
•    LGBTQ+: LGBTQ+ people are disproportionately represented amongst people experiencing homelessness. This is often linked to discrimination, family rejection and unsafe home environments. They may also face increased risks of violence, harassment and hate crime while sleeping rough; and may be less likely to access or feel safe within mainstream services without inclusive and specialist support. 
•    Gender reassignment: Trans people are disproportionately at risk of homelessness; and are at significant risk of violence and abuse. They may face additional barriers to accessing accommodation and support due to concerns about safety, privacy, dignity and discrimination. Inclusive, trauma-informed services are therefore important to ensure this group can access support safely and effectively.
•    Race and ethnicity: People from Black, Asian and minoritised ethnic communities are overrepresented amongst those sleeping rough; and may experience additional barriers due to structural inequalities, including discrimination and limited access to culturally competent services. Non-UK nationals, who make up a significant proportion of the rough-sleeping population, may face further challenges due to insecure or unclear immigration status, restricted access to public funds, and difficulties navigating complex systems. 
•    Women: Women experiencing rough sleeping often face significant additional barriers and risks, including domestic abuse, sexual violence and exploitation. They are more likely to experience hidden forms of homelessness and are therefore less likely to be identified by outreach services or access mainstream provision. This highlights the need for specialist, gender-informed and trauma-informed services.

3.6.    In addition, many people sleeping rough experience wider structural inequalities, including poverty, insecure immigration status (with a significant proportion of non-UK nationals having restricted access to public funds), poor physical and mental health, and previous contact with institutional settings such as prison, care or asylum accommodation. These factors often intersect with protected characteristics and create additional barriers to accessing and sustaining accommodation.

3.7.    Evidence also highlights gaps in access to appropriate support, including the need for more gender-specific provision for women and continued access to specialist immigration advice. The proposals in this decision are expected to have a positive equalities impact by addressing these gaps and improving access to prevention, outreach and specialist support services:

•    StreetLink London: Expansion will strengthen early intervention and prevention, particularly for individuals who may not be visible to outreach services, such as women, young people and LGBTQ+ individuals. 
•    TfL outreach: Increased capacity will enhance engagement with people sleeping rough across the transport network, including those with complex needs or who are less likely to access services. 
•    Mayor’s Specialist Rough Sleeping Fund: Delivery of gender-informed, identify-informed, trauma-informed specialist support and emergency accommodation will address the specific risks and barriers faced by women and those with the protected characteristic of gender reassignment, including those experiencing hidden homelessness. 
•    SIAS: Provision of specialist immigration advice will support migrants with insecure or unclear immigration status, helping to address a key structural barrier to resolving homelessness. 
•    Tenancy rescue: Targeted support will prevent evictions and sustain tenancies, reducing the risk of a return to rough sleeping for those facing additional barriers such as poor mental health, disability or insecure immigration status. 
•    Housing-led support: Provision of settled accommodation alongside intensive, wraparound support will help individuals with the most complex needs access and sustain housing, particularly those affected by multiple disadvantage.

3.8.    The services funded through this decision also support a shift towards prevention and a “No Wrong Door” approach. This reduces reliance on traditional verification-based access; and improves inclusivity for groups who are more likely to experience hidden rough sleeping, or face barriers to engaging with services.

3.9.    Procurement and grant processes will require providers to deliver accessible, inclusive and culturally competent services. This includes consideration of language needs; disability access; trauma-informed and gender-informed practice; and partnership working with specialist organisations. Workforce training on equalities will be incorporated where appropriate. 

3.10.    Equalities impacts will be monitored through ongoing contract management and performance monitoring. Improvements in equalities data collection – particularly for underreported characteristics such as disability, sexual orientation and gender identity – will be considered to strengthen the evidence base and inform future commissioning.

3.11.    Overall, the activities approved through this decision are expected to advance equality of opportunity for groups disproportionately affected by rough sleeping, mitigate structural barriers, and contribute to the Mayor’s ambition to end rough sleeping in London by 2030.
 

4.1.    The most relevant risks to the delivery of the Rough Sleeping Programme are outlined in the table below: 

Links to Mayor’s strategies and priorities 

4.2.    The links to the Mayoral delivery plans and strategies are below:
 

Consultations 

4.3.    In developing the 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, including through testing principles and interventions. The feedback from these organisations and individuals informed the development of the Plan and the associated EqIA. Further engagement with stakeholders has taken place since then, to explore specific elements of specialist service delivery. This enables a more detailed assessment of evolving landscape changes and their impact on certain groups. 

Subsidy control

4.4.    GLA officers have analysed the grant funding proposed by this decision against the Statutory Guidance for the UK Subsidy Control Regime. They have assessed that the proposed financial assistance does not constitute a subsidy in these circumstances.

4.5.    In particular, the proposed financial assistance fails to satisfy Limb B of the four-limbed test set out in the Subsidy Control Act 2022, as the funding recipients would not be considered enterprises who are engaged in economic activity, per section 15 of the Statutory Guidance. This is in line with an example from the guidance that states “a ringfenced grant to a charity for its non-economic activities (even if the charity also provides some goods or services on the market)” would be unlikely to meet the four-limbed test.

4.6.    The grant funding awarded by this decision will be similar to that example. GLA officers will ensure that subsidy control considerations are made again before entering into any funding agreement subsequent to this decision, and in the case that any financial assistance is considered to be subsidy, officers will assess the proposed subsidy against the seven subsidy control principles to demonstrate that any subsidy’s benefits outweigh its negative effects.

Conflicts of interest 

4.7.    There are no identified conflicts of interest from any officer involved in the drafting or clearance of this decision.
 

5.1.    Executive director’s approval is sought for expenditure of £12.097 million between 2026-27 and 2029-30, of which £6.572 million is from GLA Core Rough Sleeping Budget and £5.525 million is from integrated settlement funding for Homelessness, Rough Sleeping and Domestic Abuse Grant (HRSDAG). Appendix 1 of this decision provide detailed breakdown of how this planned expenditure is to be funded and profiled across financial years. A summary of appendix 1 is provided below (see signed PDF appended).

5.2.    Funding and budgets beyond 2028-29 is unclear any funding for 2029-30 is on the assumption of continued funding. To mitigate against risk of insufficient funding, break clauses should be included in the contracts and funding agreements, should funding change for future years. All contracts and extension of funding is also subject to funding, allocation from MHCLG being confirmed. 

5.3.    As mentioned in the table under 5.1 expenditure of up to £5.525 million is to be financed by external funding from MHCLG HRSDAG funding that is part of the GLA’s Integrated Settlement. To note, this would be to spend some of HRSDAG Integrated Settlement funds, funding for the remaining expenditure is and will be approved via separate decisions. This HRSDAG grant is included in the 2026-27 budget.

Power to undertake the requested decisions

6.1.    The foregoing sections of this report indicate that the decisions requested of the Executive Director of Housing and Land (the Director) concern the exercise of the GLA’s general powers and fall within the GLA’s statutory power to do such things considered to further, or that are facilitative of, or conducive or incidental to, the promotion of social development within Greater London. In formulating the proposals in respect of which a decision is sought, officers have complied with the GLA’s related statutory duties to:

•    pay due regard to the principle that there should be equality of opportunity for all people
•    consider how the proposals will promote the improvement of health of persons, health inequalities between persons and to contribute towards the achievement of sustainable development in the UK
•    consult with appropriate bodies. 

6.2.    In taking the decisions requested, the Director must have due regard to the PSED – namely, the need to eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other conduct prohibited by the Equality Act 2010; and to advance equality of opportunity, and foster good relations, between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic (age; disability; gender reassignment; marriage and civil partnership; pregnancy and maternity; race; religion or belief; sex; sexual orientation) and persons who do not share it (section 149 of the Equality Act 2010). To this end, the Director should have particular regard to section 3 (above) of this report.

Grant funding

6.3.    The decisions, above, include the provision of grant funding. Officers are reminded to comply with section 12 of the GLA’s Contracts and Funding Code (the Code), when they award the grant funding to the relevant recipients on behalf of the GLA. Furthermore, the officers must ensure that an appropriate funding agreement is put in place between the GLA and each of the recipients, before any part of the funding is paid to them. Finally, where existing grant agreements are to be varied, officers are reminded to put in place a deed of variation, where appropriate, and otherwise to record the variation in writing and have it signed both by the GLA and the relevant recipient.

Subsidy control

6.4.    The Subsidy Control Act 2022 requires that the proposed provision of grant funding by the GLA be assessed in relation to its four-limbed test. The officers have made this assessment at paragraphs 4.4 to 4.6, above; and have a concluded that the proposed funding does not amount to an unlawful subsidy.

Procurement

6.5.    The decisions, above, include the request for approval of spend for the procurement of services including the specialist immigration advice service. Officers are reminded to comply with the requirements of the Code and of the Procurement Act 2023, and to liaise with TfL’s Procurement & Commercial Team, before they undertake the procurements.

Exercise of options

6.6.    The decisions, above, include the exercise of options within a number of existing contracts. Officers are reminded to ensure that the services, which are the subject of each option, fall within the scope of the option within the relevant contract. Moreover, officers are reminded to exercise the options in accordance with the requirements of the specific contracts.  
 

7.1.    Set out how the project will be delivered and complete the outline timetable: