'We could buy them all houses': Nick Ferrari stunned as minister reveals £190,000 per-head cost of ending homelessness

Nick Ferrari was left stunned after a minister said the Government would spend more than £850 million tackling rough sleeping - despite an estimated 4,000 people being counted on the streets on a single night earlier this year The LBC presenter calculated the figure at roughly £190,000 per person, telling Cabinet Office Minister Sally Jameson: “What on earth? We could buy them all houses.” The Government has announced more than £400 million in additional funding , taking its total package to more than £850 million, ahead of a Downing Street summit on rough sleep.

Sally Jameson, Cabinet Office Minister and Labour MP for Doncaster Central, told Nick Ferrari at Breakfast the aim was to ensure that everybody currently sleeping rough is offered a bed and wider support by Christmas. Ms Jameson said the funding would support people beyond Christmas , including through bed spaces, mental health support, substance-misuse services and help sustaining tenancies. Read More: Homeless offered free flu jabs in Burnham pledge to protect rough sleepers Read More: Andy Burnham completes Great North Run half marathon for homelessness charity Asked how many people were homeless, Ms Jameson said there had been a snapshot estimate of about 4,000 people sleeping rough on one night earlier this year, while stressing the figure could change night by night.

Ms Jameson said the £190,000 figure could not be viewed simply as a cost per individual, as it was intended to support thousands of people over time and deliver long-term help rather than only emergency accommodation. “It's not just about the bed space. It's about some of the other wider support that people need in order to really turn their lives around,” she said. “It's not about government dictating exactly how each penny should be spent,” she said.

“We're going to be working with councils and strategic authorities across the country to be guided by them about how we should best spend the money.” Prime Minister Andy Burnham has today said that his pledge is "permanent". Speaking from Downing Street, he said: "I will lead from the front. "And the first thing I can say to you, which I hope makes it feel a little different, is that for as long as I'm here, and as long as this government is in position, this will be permanent.

"This isn't an initiative that you're used to seeing that comes and goes, and then you're left thinking, what was all that about? This is a permanent drive." Ferrari also questioned whether the Prime Minister could meet the target nationally after rough-sleeping figures in Greater Manchester rose from 402 in June 2025 to 444 in June this year, according to the Manchester Evening News. Ms Jameson said the approach in Greater Manchester had made “huge progress”, but suggested people had travelled to the city to access support.

“Because he as mayor was offering that support in that city, more people went to that city in order to access support,” she said. “That’s why we've got to do it across the country so that people are accessing support in their own areas and not all going to Manchester.”