When the Conservative Party was elected in late 2019, its manifesto included a pledge to end rough sleeping in England by 2024. No one could have predicted that the government would come close to fulfilling this promise just a few months later when it attempted to house all rough sleepers at the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Everyone In initiative, as it came to be known, raised hopes that ending rough sleeping in England was within grasp. But now, almost two years after the UK entered its first lockdown, many have returned to the streets and that early pandemic optimism feels like a distant memory.

In this episode of The Housing Podcast, Inside Housing’s Jack Simpson and Lucie Heath ask: is the government on track to end rough sleeping by 2024?

They are joined by:- Dr Lígia Teixeira, chief executive at the Centre for Homelessness Impact- Jasmin Basran, policy and parliamentary affairs manager at Crisis- Paul Atherton, filmmaker and homelessness campaigner