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Dame Louise Casey steps down as Rough Sleeping Taskforce head after three months
A government advisor who was drafted in to lead its taskforce to support rough sleepers during the pandemic has stepped down from her role after just over three months in the job.
The government confirmed today that Dame Louise Casey had stepped down from her role as the leader of its Rough Sleeping Taskforce.
The taskforce was set up in May to work with councils and ensure rough sleepers housed in temporary accommodation throughout the COVID-19 pandemic could move into long-term housing. Dame Louise was chosen to head up the team after being appointed as an independent advisor in February to lead an independent review into the causes of rough sleeping.
Commenting on the exit of Dame Louise, housing secretary Robert Jenrick thanked her for her work and said she was key to helping people off the streets and safe during the pandemic.
He said: “Her work leading the Rough Sleeping Taskforce will ensure as many people as possible who have been brought in do not return to sleeping rough.
“Our plans for longer-term accommodation – 3,300 homes this year alone – and tailored support, backed by half a billion pounds of funding this year and next, will help us to meet our commitment to end rough sleeping once and for all.”
Dame Louise was given a cross-bench peerage at the start of the month.
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Housing figures have expressed their shock at Dame Louise’s departure and warned the government not to leave a “leadership vacuum” following her departure at such an important point in tackling homelessness in the country.
Jon Sparkes, chief executive of Crisis, said: “We urge minsters not to leave a leadership vacuum. With the economic impact of the pandemic pushing more people into homelessness, we must redouble our efforts otherwise we risk rates of rough sleeping rising with all the human misery this entails.”
Steve Douglas, chief executive of St Mungo’s said: “Baroness Casey was a catalyst for the success of the Everyone In initiative that undoubtedly saved lives during the first months of the pandemic.
"Her departure will almost certainly create a policy hole and we echo Crisis’ concern that there must not be a vacuum. Her intended work on a review of the homelessness strategy building on Everyone In must continue. This is a manifesto commitment and must aim to have no going back to pre-COVID levels of homelessness.”
The resignation comes just days before the government’s evictions ban is to be lifted.
Politicians and campaigners have warned that lifting the ban this weekend could lead to a wave of evictions. Shadow housing secretary Thangam Debbonaire said that the government will walk into a “self-made homelessness crisis” if the ban is not extended.
At the time the Rough Sleeping Taskforce was set up, Mr Jenrick said that Dame Louise would help the government come up with a long-term plan to stop as many vulnerable people as possible from returning to life on the streets. It is estimated that more than 15,000 people have been housed temporarily as a result of efforts to keep rough sleepers off the streets and in temporary accommodation during the pandemic.
This week a study carried out by homelessness charity StreetLink found that the number of rough sleepers reported by outreach teams across the country during the lockdown had increased by 36% year-on-year in the months between March and June.
