Rough sleepers will receive a lump sum payment of £2,000 to spend on whatever they want – as part of a study to see if it helps them find housing faster.
Researchers at King’s College London will follow those given the funding for a year to see if it makes a difference.
A total of 250 homeless people living in Belfast and London have been recruited to take part in the trial.
While half of the participants will be given the cash, transferred straight into their bank accounts, the remaining 125 will receive nothing.
Participants have been pre-screened to make sure they won’t be harmed by the one-time payout; those who struggle with addiction have been removed.
The study, which is the first of its kind in the UK, simulates a smaller study in Vancouver, Canada, in 2018.
According to that study, those who received the payment were far less likely to be homeless and did not spend more on drugs and alcohol.
The trial in the UK has been supported by registered charity The Centre for Homelessness Impact (CFIH) trial, the Big Issue has reported.
The organisation transferred the lump sum straight into the bank accounts of people with recent experience of rough sleeping or staying in temporary accommodation.
The final results of the study are not expected to be published until 2027.
Ligia Teixeira, chief executive of the Centre for Homelessness Impact, said: ‘Our cash transfers project is rooted in a straightforward yet powerful belief: when people have direct access to resources, they gain agency over their lives and livelihoods.
‘By challenging outdated assumptions about how support is delivered, we hope to see not just immediate relief but real shifts in economic participation, decision-making and resilience.
‘We need to ask ourselves what is best for all of us in society. Do we continue to invest in an ever-growing crisis system, or do we give those at risk even better opportunities to self-exit?’
The Centre for Homelessness Impact and King’s College London have been contacted by The Daily Mail for comment.
The study comes amid a massive swell in people sleeping rough across the UK – with 300,000 people encountering the ‘worst’ form of homelessness.
Ministers have been warned that Labour’s early prisoner release scheme and an upsurge in migrants being released from asylum seeker accommodation are partly to blame.
The landmark report, released last month by Heriot-Watt University, revealed that homelessness levels stood at 299,100 across England in 2024 – a 21 per cent rise since 2022 and a 45 per cent spike since 2012.
There has also been a 70 per cent increase in the number of people approaching councils for homelessness assistance – with local authorities in London and across the north of England worst affected.
‘Homelessness resulting from evictions from UK asylum accommodation was up by 37 per cent in the last year, influenced by the acceleration of Home Office decisions on claims,’ the study said.
‘At the same time, homelessness resulting from discharge from hospitals, prisons and other institutions went up 22 per cent in the last year. This is likely in part the result of the UK Government’s early prison release scheme, which has added pressure on council finances.’
Migrant homelessness has also been attributed to the Home Office’s decision to cut in half the number of days that the majority of asylum-granting individuals can remain in government housing.
Wouldn’t it be more beneficial to give them £2,000 worth of accommodation to give them time to find employment? This assistance and a fixed address would be far more valuable because most employees will not employ unless you have a fixed abode, and if they’re not from this country, then deport them. Charity begins at home!
Prefab housing would be amazing. They could use the money for that. There are many very low-cost units on the global market, and what’s more, the men could build them themselves – it would give them motivation and some self-respect, but better still, why not send the illegal migrants back home and put our British homeless in the hotels instead?
They said that 250 will be recruited to take part, and the cash will be transferred straight into their bank accounts – how do you even have a bank account if you are homeless?
THE MONTHLY MOSQUITO 