A scheme launched by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on Monday will aim to help more than 35,000 households within the Greater London area.
All London boroughs must provide accommodation for those at risk of homelessness but this can lead to areas competing for the best accommodation – driving up prices and slowing down the provision of quality housing.
MHCLG’s new scheme aims to stop this by encouraging councils to collaborate more to provide additional homes.
Communities secretary James Brokenshire said: “I’ve seen for myself how hard each of the London boroughs works to provide those that are homeless with the support they need and a roof over their heads.
“This radical new way of working and unprecedented collaboration between the boroughs and government will make a real difference – providing more accommodation for the vulnerable and helping them to get back on their feet and away from homelessness for good.”
Umbrella group London Councils will set up a not-for-profit company to deliver the government’s ‘Capital Letters’ plan.
Darren Rodwell, London Councils’ executive member for housing and planning, said: “With so many homeless households and so little accommodation available, London faces the country’s most serious homelessness challenge.
“Capital Letters is a crucial opportunity to do things differently – and we are extremely pleased to have the government’s support for this innovative work.
“Through collaboration, boroughs will collectively strengthen our market position and secure much better housing options for homeless Londoners.”
So far 11 London boroughs have signed up to the scheme these include:
-Tower Hamlets
-Bexley
-Haringey
-Waltham Forest
-Brent
-Ealing
-Barking and Dagenham
-Croydon
-Lewisham
-Redbridge
-Southwark
The government is aiming to reduce homelessness and eliminate rough sleeping entirely by 2027.
Recent figures from the Office for National Statistics showed a sharp rise in the number of deaths of homeless people over the last five years. London had the highest mortality of homeless people according to the figures.
Homelessness charity Shelter calculated in November 2018 that there were 320,000 homeless people in Britain.
