> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.ipswich.co.uk/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # How Ipswich plans to spend £1.25m to tackle rough sleeping - URL: https://www.ipswich.co.uk/how-ipswich-plans-to-spend-1-25m-to-tackle-rough-sleeping/ - Published: 2026-10-28T10:41:31.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-28T10:41:31.000Z - Description: Extra emergency beds this winter, a seven-day cap on stays, more Housing First support and CCTV in rough sleeping hot spots are among the measures in a new plan to tackle rough sleeping, which also sets out how Ipswich will use its share of the Government's £442m Rough Sleeping Programme. - Author: Nicola Sebastian - Tags: News, Ipswich Borough Council, Homelessness, Ipswich Housing Action Group (ihAg) **Why it matters:** An average of 45 people a month were found sleeping rough between April and August this year, up from 33 a month in 2025/26. **The details:** On Tuesday, 3 November, Ipswich Borough Council's Executive will be asked to approve a new long-term plan to tackle rough sleeping. It sets out how the council will spend £1.25m of government money over the next three years, though the amounts for the second and third years are not yet confirmed. The plan includes: - Extra emergency beds this winter, giving people somewhere to go straight off the street, for a maximum of seven days at a time. - More supported beds for people with high and complex needs. - More support for Housing First, which helps people sleeping rough into a home of their own, and looking into a second micro homes project from 2027. - Two staff instead of one working to stop people being evicted from supported housing, with the aim of cutting evictions by 30%. - A new officer to deal with anti-social behaviour linked to homelessness, and more CCTV in areas where people sleep rough. The council describes the extra winter beds as a short-term response "until the scale, duration and causes of the current increase are better understood". **By the numbers:** In June, 43 people were sleeping rough in Ipswich, 34% more than a year earlier. - The number of people sleeping rough long-term rose by 67%. - Around one in five (21%) had left prison, which the council says is a much higher share than across England. **The targets:** The council wants to cut the number of people sleeping rough long-term from 13 to six by November 2028, in line with the Government's aim to halve long-term rough sleeping. For this autumn's annual one-night count, the target is seven people, the same as last year. **For context:** The plan comes as Prime Minister Andy Burnham pushes for everyone sleeping rough to be offered a way off the streets by 24 December. - The Government did not require councils to produce a plan like this, but recommended it as good practice. - Local bids for a separate £8.4m government fund for charities, community and faith groups were all unsuccessful. [Can Andy Burnham really end rough sleeping in Ipswich by Christmas?The Prime Minister's £442m pledge to clear England's streets by 24 December is being put to the test in Ipswich, where one local charity's outreach team found 11 people sleeping rough on a single morning in late September.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/29/1e/291e4b7f-e551-4458-b546-61963954b22f/content/images/icon/ipswich-icon-61e337f1-5b31-43aa-a92f-d672051ab404.png)Ipswich.co.ukJoão Santos![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/29/1e/291e4b7f-e551-4458-b546-61963954b22f/content/images/thumbnail/IMG_5985-1-ed51aeae-a0b3-47ff-94a6-17427415c250.jpg)](https://www.ipswich.co.uk/can-andy-burnham-really-end-rough-sleeping-in-ipswich-by-christmas/) **What they're saying:** Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service last month, Sean Trueman, outreach coordinator at Ipswich Housing Action Group, said: "This is not just about taking people off the streets and putting a roof over their heads. This is about peeling back the layers and trying to break the cycle." **What's next:** The Executive meets at 18:00 on Tuesday, 3 November. Publishing the updated homelessness action plan and the Temporary Accommodation Procurement and Allocation Policy by 1 December 2026 is a condition of the government grant that funds many of the council's homelessness services. **The bottom line:** With rough sleeping on the rise, the council has set out how it will spend £1.25m to get people off the streets this winter and into settled homes, while aiming to cut long-term rough sleeping by more than half by 2028. --- **Don't forget:** If you enjoy our content, please [add Ipswich.co.uk as a "preferred source" on Google](https://google.com/preferences/source?q=ipswich.co.uk&ref=ipswich.co.uk) so you can easily find more of the content you value. 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