It is always fantastic to have the opportunity to visit homelessness charities in my Ministerial capacity to understand the challenges they face and what more we can do as a Government to help them. On 10 October, to mark the all important World Homeless Day, I visites Centrepoint in South London for World Homeless Day 2019 and met with the CEO, Seyi Obakin OBE. We discussed some of the challenges which face the young people of whom they support. Crucially, our conversation revolved around youth homelessness, housing options, and what the Government can do better to offer its support in these policy areas. I met with young people at Centrepoint to hear more about their experiences with our welfare system and their thoughts on what we could do to improve it. This is important to me, and I tried to get about as a Minister as much as possible to hear about people's lived experiences to inform better policy. Finally, I heard more about the work at Centrepoint and how it is about more than just accommodation for young people. It is incredible to learn that they support young people into training and employment. I went away from the visit determined to look into what more we can do at the Department for Work and Pensions to support Centrepoint and other brilliant charities.
I am pleased over £1.2 billion has been allocated to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping through to 2020.
The Government has a strong record of preventing and relieving homelessness. Between 2010 and mid-2018, there have been over 1. 6 million cases of homelessness prevention and relief across England. While this is welcome progress, there is much more to be done, which is why I am glad that over £400 million in additional funding was announced this September toward tackling homelessness and rough sleeping.
I welcome the launch of a new £100 million Rough Sleeping Strategy expected to provide rapid support to up to 6,000 vulnerable people either new to the streets or at risk of becoming rough sleepers. A recent study showed that in 2018 alone, the Rough Sleeping Initiative helped reduce the number of rough sleepers by over a third in funded areas. The Initiative complements the £28 million Housing First pilots which are supporting the most entrenched rough sleepers off the streets by providing them with stable accommodation and intensive wrap-around support.
Furthermore, I am glad that the Homelessness Reduction Act, the most ambitious legislative reform for tackling homelessness in decades, has recently come into force. This Act, praised by both Shelter and Crisis, requires councils to provide early support to people at risk of homelessness.
I am confident that these measures will reduce homelessness across our country and help to achieve the aim of halving rough sleeping by 2022 and eliminating it altogether by 2027.
Homelessness is an issue that I have consistently raised in Parliament on previous occasions as a backbencher MP. I was the Co-Chair of an All Party Parliamentary Group on Ending Homelessness, and in that capacity I submitted for the Rough Sleeping Debate on the 7th February alongside my Co-Chair, Neil Coyle MP.
To submit for a debate, it is helpful to secure sponsorship from other MPs. Our successful submission received the support of four Labour Members, one Liberal Democrat, and ten Conservative MPs.
Through my chairmanship of the Ending Homeless APPG, I worked alongside various charities to promote the best policies for tackling homelessness and its various causes. This led to the creation and publication of various reports on the subject, along with serious campaigning to bring the Homelessness Reduction Act into law. This was achieved in April 2018, and the Act provides the Government with additional powers to help combat homelessness.
Personally, I have slept rough in Colchester over five times and twice in London to raise awareness of homelessness and funds for local charities. Through this, I have personally raised over £7,000 for rough sleepers in Colchester, and Colchester-based charities.