Homelessness is one of the biggest of social challenges which the country faces. One that all Governments have grappled with over many decades.

Whilst homelessness is less than half of what it was at its peak in 2004, there are still far too many people who are homeless or sleeping rough. Over recent years the figures haven't been going in the right direction, which is not acceptable.

For the past two years I been tasked with the difficult job of doing something about this important issue in Government. In my column over previous years I have spoken on a number of occasions at my frustration as to how long it takes to make changes.

Now having been involved at first hand in making alterations to the system I can more easily appreciate that the process of change does not happen overnight.

Over the last two years I have been working on a number of initiatives that I hope will make a real difference to people struggling with homelessness or the threat of it.

Recently, I introduced a new grant for local Councils to help them be more proactive in prevent homelessness and reduce the amount of temporary accommodation that councils have to use. This will see Nuneaton and Bedworth Council receive an extra £175,000 over the next two years.

Earlier this year I led for the Government on the Homelessness Reduction Act, widely acknowledged as the most transformative piece of legislation in this area for over 40 years.

I am now in the process of working on the implementation of this law which comes into effect in April 2018.

This new law will put more obligations on Councils to help people at a much earlier stage. Up to now many Councils have hitherto only helped people at risk of homelessness once the bailiffs have arrived to evict them. The new law will also mean that single people who are not owed a duty to be housed will receive far more support and advice. The law will also compel other public services to refer people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness to the local Council for help.

Over the next three years our own Nuneaton & Bedworth Council will also receive £121,000 of additional money (on top of the previous amount of £175,000) to implement the law which should reduce the Council’s workload over time as we support people far earlier and prevent people becoming homeless in the first place.

As a lead-in to the new law there are also a number of ‘Prevention Trailblazer’ projects which the Government has funded across a number of areas. In Warwickshire we have a 'Trailblazer' aimed at helping people earlier. The project includes all of the Districts in Warwickshire and is led by Rugby Borough Council. This project has been backed by £860,000 which is shared between the District Councils, including ours in Nuneaton.

Once all these initiatives start to kick-in I hope they will make a real difference. Of course, having a place to live is critical. I am confident that more affordable and social housing is now likely to be built following the recent announcement on social housing rents. The bodies representing housing associations have described this as a sea change in the delivery of new affordable housing.

Private landlords are also important in this area and despite the politics that's played, most private landlords are decent responsible people. The Government is working on a package of measures to incentivise landlords to give their tenants longer tenancies.

Homelessness and rough sleeping is an enormously complex issue. There is an individual story behind each case with relationship breakdown, mental health issues, drink and or drug dependency and poor budgeting just some of the factors that can lead to homelessness.

The Government has acknowledged that the problem of homelessness is influenced not just by housing or by the work of local Councils.

Accordingly, a Government task force has been created so that Ministers can work across all Government Departments and Agencies in order to deal with the many challenges.

This is only part of the work going on, all with the aim of halving rough sleeping by 2022 and eradicating it, across the country, by 2027.