By Emma Lindley, HQN associate

There’s been a flurry of announcements lately across housing, homelessness, and community safety. It can be hard to keep track. It feels like everywhere you look there is another consultation, funding tweak, or policy shift that could make a real difference to how we deliver services. To help you keep on top of it, here are three developments that caught my eye this month – and why they matter.

1. Fairer Funding Review – RSAP funding rolled into HPG

One proposal in the Fairer Funding Review suggests rolling revenue support from the Rough Sleeping Accommodation Programme (RSAP) into the Homelessness Prevention Grant (HPG).

At first glance, this looks like simplification: one pot, more flexibility, fewer separate funding lines. But the reality is more complicated. In many cases, RSAP revenue isn’t currently paid to local authorities at all – it goes straight to the registered provider (RP) that received Homes England capital grant to deliver the housing. Those properties come with grant restrictions, meaning they can’t be easily used for another purpose.

If RSAP revenue is rolled into HPG, local authorities will still need to commission RPs to deliver tenancy sustainment support. That adds an extra step, rather than removing one. The lack of a clear national ring-fence also raises concerns about whether this specialist funding could get diluted across wider homelessness pressures.

The consultation on this proposal has now closed. The opportunity to influence has passed, but this is definitely one to watch as government weighs up responses. Consider early conversations about commissioning arrangements to help avoid disruption when changes take effect.

2. Temporary Accommodation – changes to HPG and Revenue Support Grant

The government has also confirmed that from 2026/27, funding for temporary accommodation will no longer sit within the Homelessness Prevention Grant. Instead, it will be absorbed into the Revenue Support Grant (RSG) – and crucially, the ring-fence is being removed.

This might sound like a technical change, but it could have very real financial consequences. Without a ring-fence, councils won’t be required to spend the funding specifically on temporary accommodation. For some, this may create more flexibility to balance local pressures. For others, it risks widening a funding gap if resources are drawn away into other competing priorities.

Temporary accommodation is already one of the biggest financial pressures facing local government. Many councils are spending millions each year on nightly paid placements, often with little choice but to use expensive and unsuitable provision. Shifting TA funding into the RSG could make it harder to track, harder to protect, and potentially less sustainable.

Now’s the time to talk to finance teams. How is this change being modelled locally? What assumptions are being made about future demand? And what strategies are in place to reduce reliance on costly placements?

3. ‘Cuckooing’ to become a criminal offence

A third development sits within the Crime and Policing Bill: the government is in the process of making ‘cuckooing’ a specific criminal offence.

Cuckooing happens when criminals take over the home of someone who is isolated, lacks protective networks, or is coerced into giving up control, and use it as a base for exploitation. For housing and homelessness services, it’s a serious and growing issue. Victims often feel trapped and unable to report what’s happening, while tenancy sustainment becomes almost impossible once a property is under criminal control.

This change matters, especially for people moving off the streets or out of hidden homelessness. For some, the risk of cuckooing means their only ‘safe’ option is supported housing with staff presence and peer oversight. But communal living isn’t right for everyone — it can be triggering, destabilising, and a barrier to recovery.

Most people want their own space: somewhere safe, private, and truly theirs. But the risk of cuckooing has made independent living feel unsafe for many. By making it a specific offence, the government is giving police and local services stronger powers to intervene — potentially breaking down one of the biggest barriers to choice and stability in housing.

The move will also give police and local services stronger powers to intervene. This could be a step towards breaking down one of the biggest barriers to people exercising real choice over their housing, and a chance to build more confidence that independent living can be safe as well as sustainable.

Link up with your community safety partnership to understand how local enforcement will work once the offence is enacted. Think about what additional training or awareness your staff might need to spot early signs – and how you can reassure new tenants that support is there if they feel at risk.

Final thought

None of these changes exist in isolation. Funding reform, budget pressures, and new legislative tools all shape the environment in which we’re working to prevent homelessness and build safer, more inclusive communities. The challenge is not just to react, but to connect the dots.

For now, focus on awareness and preparation: keep talking to finance teams, strengthen relationships with RPs and community safety partners, and stay ready to adapt when the changes land.