Rough sleeping funding to help people off the streets this winter has been tripled to £30 million.
The Government had announced £10 million before Christmas to boost the use of emergency accommodation, but said an extra £20 million is now available to tackle record levels of rough sleeping.
It is understood the money was left over in the departmental budget and ministers wanted to prioritise any extra money towards this issue.
Housing and homelessness charity Shelter said the funding is “a very welcome step” but that without further investment in social housing, it would be only a “temporary fix”.
Some 280 councils in England, including all London boroughs, will be given some of the extra funding to enable more people to move from the streets into safe accommodation with access to medical treatment.
Data published in November showed an increase in the number of people sleeping rough in London of almost a fifth on the same period the previous year.
Homelessness minister Rushanara Ali, who will appear before a committee in Parliament on Tuesday to be questioned by MPs on Government efforts to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping, said many people had been “let down by the system for far too long”.
She said: “This Government is more determined than ever to turn the tide on years of failure to properly invest in our frontline services.
“That is why I am tripling the emergency funding from £10 million to £30 million for councils to help the most vulnerable into safe and secure housing with warm beds, hot meals and specialist care.”
The Government said it had committed the largest-ever investment in homelessness prevention services of almost £1 billion for this year, funding longer-term help for rough sleepers with mental health and substance abuse problems.
Shelter chief executive Polly Neate repeated the charity’s previous calls for commitments to build more social housing.
She said: “As the number of people forced to sleep on our streets continues to rise, this funding is a very welcome step towards making sure that no-one has to spend the winter months in a freezing doorway or flimsy tent.
“But, unless the Government invests in social housing as well, this can be no more than a temporary fix.
“Our frontline services regularly hear from terrified people on the brink of losing their homes with nowhere else to go, all because of crippling rents and a chronic lack of social housing.
“To protect people from the trauma and danger that comes with living on our streets, and end homelessness for good, the Government must commit enough funding at the Spending Review to build 90,000 social homes a year for ten years.”