St Mungo’s and other charities urge government to reconsider welfare reform plans.
St Mungo’s, along with 13 other homelessness organisations, has issued an open letter calling on the government to reconsider proposed welfare reforms, warning that planned changes – intended to encourage employment – could lead to increased homelessness, particularly among people with health conditions or disabilities.
The proposals, set out in the government’s upcoming ‘Pathways to Work’ Green Paper, include reductions in access to key health-related benefits such as personal independence payment (PIP) and universal credit. The homelessness sector argues that these benefits play a vital role in helping individuals manage the extra costs of living with a health condition. These include funding for counselling, transport to medical appointments, and essential expenses like rent, food, and utilities.
The organisations are concerned that without this financial support, individuals at risk of or recovering from homelessness will struggle to cover basic living costs. This could undermine their ability to maintain stable housing and potentially result in a return to homelessness.
Recent government data shows that in 2023/24, over 62,000 households with physical health conditions or disabilities were assessed as homeless—up from just under 36,000 in 2018/19. In the last quarter of 2024, 21% of households facing homelessness had at least one physical health issue.
Between October to December 2024, just over a fifth (21%) of households facing homelessness had some sort of physical ill health or disability.
Emma Haddad, chief executive of St Mungo’s, said: ‘For the thousands of people affected by homelessness, these planned welfare reforms run counter to the government’s ambition to give people the support they need to get back to work. Instead, we conclude that the proposed changes will increase the number of people at risk of becoming homeless for the first time, increase the number of people we have helped resolve their homelessness fall back into it, and increase the length of time it takes to resolve people’s homelessness in the future.
‘Many people rely on these benefits to manage complex health conditions as part of their recovery from homelessness and pay for essential utilities. With already eyewatering rents, these benefits help people cover their additional costs. Without them, we fear people will be increasingly unable to afford to secure somewhere safe to live. Homelessness has already pushed these people to the edge. We should be supporting them to rebuild their lives, not creating more challenges for them to overcome.
‘That’s why, with other organisations in the sector, we are asking the government to rethink these reforms, so that we can prevent more people becoming homeless and those affected by homelessness can quickly and permanently recover from it. That is how the Government can really achieve its ambition of helping more people into work.’
The letter and a list of other signatories can be read here.
Photo by Nick Fewings
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