Millions to be spent in the West Midlands to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping

Members of the West Midlands Combined Authority’s (WMCA) Overview and Scrutiny Committee will discuss the work of the WMCA Homelessness Taskforce next week.

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And a report to the committee said major funding to be awarded to the region will help carry out the work that has already been done in the past few years.

The West Midlands will receive just over £18.2 million from the Supported Housing Programme, the majority of which will be spent in Birmingham and Coventry between 2026-29 where there is high demand.

This scheme is aimed at increasing the supply of supported accommodation through commissioning housing-related support services, focusing on homelessness prevention and preventing and reducing rough sleeping.

The three-year Homelessness, Rough Sleeping and Domestic Abuse Grant funding allocation for WMCA will see £545,845 spent in 2026/27, £555,713 the following year and £1,335,461 in 2028/29.

The report said this money is in addition to funding the individual councils may have received through the grant.

Between 2020 and 2025, the five year WMCA Rough Sleeping Initiative (RSI) Programme saw £2.7 million invested on a number if initiatives.

The programme supported 6,381 during the five years including helping more than 400 people off the streets and into emergency accommodation, helping more than 1,000 secure and sustain tenancies as well as helping others in employment or training to reduce future risk.

For 2025/26, more than £900,000 was secured through the Rough Sleeping Prevention and Recovery Grant which was directed towards interventions for people at the highest risk of returning to the streets as well as those experiencing long term rough sleeping.

To date, 488 people have been supported across the programme of which 462 have been helped to retain or secure new accommodation.

The report said: “As we look forward our ambition to design out homelessness remains our overarching objective.

“The national strategy reflects many of the focus areas that the Homelessness Taskforce has been promoting since its inception, including prevention at a much earlier stage, a focus on the impact of homelessness on children and families as well as people experiencing rough sleeping and a need to collaborate much more effectively.

“The Homelessness Taskforce will continue working with existing and new partners to redouble our efforts to promote, encourage and embed system change across he WMCA region wherever we can.”