The government is to provide 6,000 new homes for rough sleepers in a bid to ensure as 'few people as possible return to the streets' after the coronavirus crisis.
Announcing the move at Sunday's Downing Street briefing, Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick said the £433m plan will also see rough sleepers given the health, addiction and mental health support they need.
Almost 15,000 people in England, which amounted to 90 per cent of rough sleepers known to the authorities, have been put up during the pandemic.
That means, Mr Jenrick added, 'for the first time in my lifetime, we know who the vast majority of rough sleepers are and where they’re living'.