Patients: Homelessness
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress his Department has made in delivering the commitment outlined in the National Plan to End Homelessness to ensure that no one eligible for homelessness assistance is discharged to the street after a hospital stay.
Answered by Mrs Sharon Hodgson
In December 2025, the Government published the National Plan to End Homelessness and Rough Sleeping, setting out a clear, cross-Government approach to prevent homelessness and tackle rough sleeping over the long term. The plan includes a Government commitment that no one eligible for homelessness assistance is discharged to the street after a hospital stay. It recognises that discharge into insecure or unsuitable housing, including rough sleeping, is harmful to people’s health and wellbeing, and costly to services.
To support this, we have, jointly with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, published guidance on Discharging people at risk of or experiencing homelessness, which is available at the following link:
Every acute hospital has access to a multidisciplinary care transfer hub to manage the discharge of people with more complex needs. These teams work together to plan a person’s discharge, so their health and care needs as well as housing situation are all considered, and the right support is in place when they leave hospital.
We are also working with councils and integrated care boards to improve how existing funding streams can be used to fund intermediate care services tailored for those experiencing homelessness, to improve continuity of care and access to post-discharge rehabilitation, recovery, and reablement.
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