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The Integrated Settlement for strategic authorities, which consolidates funding schemes into a single pot, includes a little-noticed but potentially significant change that could help tackle the crisis in temporary accommodation.Last year, the Government added two extra areas of responsibility to the framework, one of which was health, wellbeing and public service reform.At first glance this appears innocuous, but the sentence has given mayors and their strategic authorities the legitimacy – and more importantly, the political cover – to intervene in challenges that have traditionally been considered the domain of local authorities.It poses a live question about where the roles of strategic and local authorities begin, end, and overlap, with the mandates of strategic authorities having often been interpreted narrowly, focusing on transport, skills and economic development.Established institutions with experienced politicians understand they do not need permission to take action to tackle public service challenges.Under the leadership of Andy Burnham, Greater Manchester chose to prioritise rough sleeping through initiatives such as A Bed Every Night, bringing together partners, funding streams and services around a shared mission.The Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has also taken some action to support pan-London initiatives, such as the London Ending Homelessness Accelerator, although there is a strong case for a much more muscular approach.The value strategic authorities can add is clear. Despite a preference among local authorities to work collaboratively, they often find themselves competing with one another to meet their statutory homelessness duties. In practice, this means bidding against neighbouring authorities for temporary accommodation in the private rented sector.Attempts such as Capital Letters to address homelessness at a pan-London scale have not been successful because they have not had enough political buy-in.Moreover, the scale of placements, both in-borough and out-of-borough, is increasingly large and, in some areas, is distorting local housing markets.Mayoral leadership provides the scale and convening power needed to co-ordinate action across multiple local authorities. Rather than operating as individual commissioners and procurers in the housing market, local authorities can begin to act collectively.One London borough I spoke to recently estimated that around 2,500 private rented properties within its boundaries are currently housing homeless households placed by local authorities from outside the borough. The result is increased competition for housing among local residents. Part of the issue is due to a lack of information. Local authorities do not know when their neighbours are purchasing properties in their patch.A further issue is that landlords are able to exercise considerable leverage over local authorities who are constrained by their small geographies and topographies: some authorities have more than half of their landmass in the Green Belt.The evidence of local government reorganisation on public service delivery is mixed, but increasing the size of authorities is not unhelpful, given the availability of properties.As demand has increased, the private sector has been able to command higher rents and nightly rates for temporary accommodation.This is where mayors and strategic authorities can add much-needed ballast to what is a broken, expensive system that delivers poor outcomes.Mayoral leadership provides the scale and convening power needed to co-ordinate action across multiple local authorities. Rather than operating as individual commissioners and procurers in the housing market, local authorities can begin to act collectively.There are early signs of what this could look like. Initiatives such as the Mayoral Data Council and the Office for Public Service Innovation in the Liverpool City Region illustrate how strategic authorities can use data and innovation to integrate services across organisational boundaries.With the right digital architecture, it becomes possible to identify households at risk of homelessness earlier and co-ordinate interventions across housing, health, employment and social services at a scale that individual local authorities cannot achieve unilaterally.Strategic authorities also create opportunities to pool investment and shape markets more effectively. If local authorities, supported by a mayor, were able to align their procurement strategies for temporary accommodation, they could collectively exert greater influence over the market.For example, a joint commitment to reduce reliance on certain forms of accommodation – such as nightly paid hotel placements – could send a powerful signal to providers.In practice, some authorities would inevitably still need to rely on these options in the short term. However, a co-ordinated approach would strengthen their negotiating position and could help secure better value for money and more stable arrangements.Of course, mayoral leadership alone is not enough. Any new approach must be supported by well-resourced local authorities that are investing seriously in prevention. Preventing homelessness requires sustained work with households before crises occur, including effective advice services, early intervention and close partnerships with private sector landlords and registered providers, probation and health services.Despite these opportunities, there is frustration in some quarters about the inconsistent approach taken by strategic authorities. Some mayors have embraced homelessness as a priority and view it as a cross-system public service challenge. Others remain hesitant.Greater consistency is needed. As strategic authorities mature as institutions, and as mayors build consensus around their priorities, the window of opportunity to act collectively on homelessness is increasing. But there is also a note of caution.The two areas in England with the most developed devolved institutions – London and Greater Manchester – also have some of the highest numbers of households in temporary accommodation. Both areas have been largely dominated by the Labour Party.Increasing political fragmentation, particularly following the local elections in May and beyond, could make it more difficult to sustain the consensus needed for mayors to take a strong leadership role on homelessness.Jack Shaw is director of Groundwork Research

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HOMELESSNESS

Mayors: A secret weapon to tackle homelessness?

By Jack Shaw | 29 April 2026

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