THE government’s pledge to invest £654 million in preventing homelessness fails to address the biggest drivers pushing people onto the streets, campaigners have suggested. 

Announcing the funding on Friday morning, ministers admitted that celebrating Christmas in a warm and safe environment “is beyond reach” for too many people. 

The £654m package pledged over the next two years will protect tens of thousands of vulnerable people from losing their homes, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has claimed.