Dear everyone, here is an article about homelessness and rough sleeping during the coronavirus pandemic in the UK, enjoy! At the beginning of the pandemic, the British government put a scheme in place called “Everyone in”. This project offered shelter for many rough sleepers, that were housed in deserted hotels or hostels. This help only lasted for the first wave of the pandemic, meaning from March to the beginning of June. Yet, the scheme had demonstrated its relevance, since 15,000 rough sleepers were offered a roof over their heads in the months following its introduction. Around summer, the number of seekers for a house gradually diminished, and it was announced in June that funds accorded to this system were withdrawn. Even though the strategy had been criticised for some inefficiencies (for instance, from one third to half of the rough sleepers under the scheme were not placed in a “settled accommodation”), figures have proved its utility: more than 21,000 infections and 260 deaths have been avoided thanks to “Everyone in”. This is why the announcement of the end of the scheme (especially with a second wave coming) was not well perceived. As a matter of fact, even though evictions will still be illegal until February, Polly Nate, chief executive of Shelter, warned that “homelessness doesn't just come from legal evictions. It comes from breakdowns in relationships, fleeing domestic abuse, illegal evictions, or when those with no real protection under the law, like lodgers, are kicked out”. He talks about the “hidden-homeless” that did not necessarily sleep in the streets but in a friend’s or relative’s house who will not be able to continue to welcome them during the pandemic. In addition of that, the current regulations are causing more and more redundancies, and the number of young people sleeping rough has never been that high (11% of London’s rough sleepers are young people). Moreover, 2019 was the year of the record of the highest number of deaths among homeless people in England and Wales. In that difficult context, the government chose to split its £91.5m funding between 274 councils in order to let them establish their own plans to deal with homelessness. Although £10m was added, later on, the decision to abandon the “Everyone in” scheme still quite controversial. Indeed, it feels like the government promise that “no one should lose their home as a result of the coronavirus pandemic” (Robert Jenrick) has been broken, as more than 70,000households in the UK were made homeless during the pandemic, and 207,543 households contacted their local council for welp with homelessness or a threat of homelessness. Sources https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/homeless-rough-sleepers-lockdown- coronavirus-b1779557.html https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jan/10/first-lockdown-england- homelessness-everyone-in-streets https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/jan/09/70000-households-in-uk-made- homeless-during-pandemic https://inews.co.uk/news/uk/homelessness-rise-young-bear-the-brunt-sleeping-rough- london-chain-report-742720