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Rory Stewart praises ‘radical’ scheme of handing thousands in cash to rough sleepers | Personal Finance | Finance
Rory Stewart backs handing thousands to every homeless person person in Britain (Image: Aaron Chown/PA)
Giving unconditional cash directly to homeless people has been “completely transformative” in other countries, a former politician has argued.
Speaking on his latest The Rest is Politics podcast, former Tory minister Rory Stewart proposed the concept of giving thousands of pounds directly to homeless people following the “compelling” results this has had in Canada.
Referring to the New Leaf Project, which saw the charity Foundations for Social Change (FSC) give people in the Vancouver area who have been homeless for less than two years a one-time deposit of $7,500 in Canadian dollars (around £4,400), Mr Stewart said: “Most exciting though, for me, is what’s happened in Canada.
“They did an experiment by giving £4,400 of basically unconditional cash to rough sleepers. So really radical. Give directly. Give directly. And it was completely transformative.
“They didn’t spend it on drugs and alcohol. Almost all of them got into accommodation, began earning enough money to start supporting friends and family, and in quite a quick period of time, began saving the Government money. The evidence from Canada is absolutely compelling.”
The number of people rough sleeping is rising in the UK (Image: Getty)
According to the FSC’s published findings, those who received money spent less days homeless than the others, moved into stable housing in an average of three months, and 67 percent became food secure in one month.
The people who received the payments typically spent them on the necessities. Around 52 percent was spent on food and rent, 15 percent on other items like bills and medicine, and 16 percent on clothes and transportation. Spending on alcohol, cigarettes and drugs dropped an average 39 percent.
Mr Stewart continued: “There are brilliant programmes that I’ve seen in the Midlands where you can provide incredible wraparound 24/7 support and help people into housing, mentor them, and sit with them.
“But that’s very, very expensive and you end up spending an incredible amount of money, £40,000 to £50,000 per person on the mentoring and the wraparound support. The Canada approach is much more radical, costs a tenth as much and is having astonishing results.”
Mr Stewart said one of the things they found during the Canadian project was giving direct cash to people “freed them up” and revealed much more about what specialist support they need.
Home Secretary Suella Braverman has been pushing for restrictions on tents used by rough sleepers (Image: Getty)
He explained: “So actually, it turns out that not everybody requires the same support as you can imagine. And the great thing about the cash is it gets people into accommodation and sorts out their finances.”
At that point, Mr Stewart said it becomes “much easier” to identify who needs what support. For example, while one person may need extra mental health support, another may need educational support.
He continued: “But starting with the cash – and that actually is going to be quite controversial for some of the charities. Many of them will hear this and say, ‘You’ve got to be kidding. We know these people. If we give them £4,400 of cash, they’re going to abuse it’.
However, Mr Stewart said: “It’s not true. The evidence from Canada is very compelling. So I would encourage people to take risks.”
Responding to the suggestion, co-host Alastair Campbell, the former Downing Street director of communications and strategy, said: “On the rough sleepers, the principles that we put at the heart of it, one was this focus on trying to rehabilitate and give people a sense of their own future. The second big thing was mental health support.
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“And I think if Suella Braverman actually did go around and talk to some of these people sleeping in tents on the streets being helped by these charities, then I think she’d discovered that mental health and mental illness is a big, big, big part of this.”
Describing homelessness as a “lifestyle choice” in a series of recent controversial posts on X, Home Secretary Suella Braverman has been pushing for restrictions on the use of tents by rough sleepers.
In her statement, Ms Braverman said the Government would support those who are “genuinely” homeless, but added: “We cannot allow our streets to be taken over by rows of tents occupied by people, many of them from abroad, living on the streets as a lifestyle choice.”
While the proposal, which has received backlash, was not outlined in the King’s Speech, a source close to Mrs Braverman has said the idea has not been dropped.
The Criminal Justice Bill, which was announced in the King’s Speech, does however include proposed new powers to tackle “persistent, nuisance, and organised begging”.
The Bill is designed to replace the dated 1824 Vagrancy Act, which makes begging and rough sleeping a criminal offence in England and Wales.
Its introduction to the Commons, which was due to start on Wednesday, has been delayed by discussions about whether to include Mrs Braverman’s tent restriction proposal.
Mrs Braverman also wants to include fines in the bill for homeless people who have been warned by police about causing a nuisance, such as refusing to move their tents from shop doorways.
Critics have described the idea as “cruelty dressed up as policy” which would only push people into further destitution. Meanwhile, Labour MP Lisa Nandy posted on X: “Even by this Government’s standards, this is disgraceful. Imagine looking at the housing and homelessness crisis you’ve presided over and thinking, let’s take away their tents.”
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said he does not want anyone to be criminalised for not having somewhere to live, but declined to rule out a restriction on tents.
Asked if there will be a restriction on tents involved in the Criminal Justice Bill, he told reporters: “I don’t want anyone to have to sleep rough and I’m proud of the Government’s track record over the past few years in tackling that.
“We’re investing £2billion and the number of people rough sleeping is down by a third since the peak, and thanks to our Homelessness Reduction Act, which is a piece of legislation we passed a little while ago, over 600,000 people have had their homelessness or rough sleeping either alleviated or prevented, but there’s always more that we can do. That’s why we’ll keep working at it.
“We said earlier in the year that we didn’t want anyone to be criminalised for not having somewhere to live and that’s why we were going to repeal something called the Vagrancy Act, which is an outdated piece of law from the 1800s.
“At the same time as part of that plan, we want to make sure that intimidating or violent conduct, that the police do have the powers to tackle that.”
Through the week I have the opportunity of speaking to some of brightest and best minds in Indian markets and beyond. This newsletter is a synopsis of some of my observations and learnings from these conversations.
This week has been about moving on. At least from a markets perspective, markets have a knack for moving on before the news cycle does. Mentally, investors have already priced in the idea that the Iran war is over — or at least contained. Risk appetite is slowly returning, and the worst‑case scenarios are no longer front and centre. But that does not mean the after‑effects have vanished.
The single most important indicator to track now is not the latest Truth Social post or viral meme, but a far more practical metric: how many ships successfully make it out of the Strait of Hormuz. Since the double blockade this week from the US and Iran, the number is a measly one or two per day.
For India, crude prices matter far more than the latest Trump post or geopolitical one‑liners. India is more vulnerable than many of the parties directly involved in the conflict simply because of its heavy dependence on energy imports. This is apparent from the fact that while US markets have returned to pre-war levels, the Nifty is still about 7% away in dollar terms from its lows — this after two positive weeks.
What’s more worrying is the question of the rally sustaining. Even if the war is truly over and oil starts flowing smoothly tomorrow, the damage has already been done. The impact will likely linger for at least the next two to three quarters. NDTV Profit reported this week that banks have asked the regulator for a moratorium on MSME loans. Even a ceasefire extension cannot wish away the pain that has already been inflicted.
Early smoke signals from the IT sector are not encouraging. Commentary so far points to soft demand and margin pressure, making the banking results expected over the weekend even more critical for market direction. Financials remain the top pick among experts across the board, but an important question remains unanswered: is the full impact of the war being factored in?
India’s Vulnerability
Globally, equity markets fell between 7% and 24% during the US‑Israel‑Iran conflict. In dollar terms, the Nifty 50 dropped 15.5%, the third‑worst performer. As calm returns, only two indices — the S&P 500 and China’s CSI 300 — have fully recovered losses. The Hang Seng and Nikkei are within 1%. The Nifty, however, is still 6.6% away, just below the Philippines’ PSEi. Thus, the war may be over. The recovery trade is not.
View From The Disruptors
For the latest episode of ‘The Disruptors’, I interviewed brothers Satyajit Hange and Ajinkya Hange who run Two Brothers Organic Farms in their family village near Pune. Sons of farmers, the duo moved away from agriculture, earned MBAs and worked in corporate banking – only to return to farming in 2014.
What they encountered was a broken agricultural system – degraded soil, rising chemical use, and food that looked good but lacked nutrition. This prompted them to embrace natural, regenerative farming and eventually turn into an organic, consumer-facing brand, selling grains, pulses, oils and traditionally made food products.
The founders are unapologetic about pricing, arguing that nutritious, responsibly grown food cannot be cheap. This is reflected in their products which are priced well above market alternatives — a 500 ml bottle of their cow ghee costs over Rs 1,100, when other such brands cost less than half. A 100 gm packet of haldi costs Rs 170, three times more than what the regular haldi costs you. Their honey costs Rs 435 per 350 gm bottle, nearly 2x other such products. They argue that their ‘premium’ pricing is a conscious attempt to reflect the cost of nutritious food and an attempt to shift consumer mindset about food prices. Maybe it is time to price in the value of ‘clean food’.
ALSO READ: Price Of War: How The Iran Conflict Has Unsettled US Economy
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Practical Personal Finance Advice and
Latest Stories — On NDTV Profit.
On April 15, 2026, Euphoria star Sydney Sweeney and entrepreneur Scooter Braun took their relationship “Instagram official,” signaling a new chapter for both.
In the glittering world of Hollywood, where relationships are often made public, Sydney Sweeney and Scooter Braun chose their own way of announcing their relationship. Sydney took to her Instagram story and shared a cozy black-and-white photo, which is reportedly said to be from the Euphoria Season 3 premiere.
ALSO READ | Top Gun 3 Confirmed: Tom Cruise Back In Cockpit As Maverick
In the photo, Sydney smiles widely at the camera while Scooter seemingly wraps his arms around her from behind. Scooter quickly reshared the image on his own Instagram story, but what caught the attention of fans was the caption he wrote. Capturing the moment, he wrote, “Lucky ba****d.”
The two first sparked romance rumors back in June 2025 after meeting at Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez’s wedding in Venice, Italy. Soon after, there were rumors of the two dating. However, later that year, sources revealed to US Weekly, “They’re still not putting a label on it, but Sydney has been having a lot of fun with Scooter.”
Us Weekly also reported that sources this month had confirmed to them that the couple is “the real deal.”
Sydney Sweeney On Romantic Love
Recently, Sydney Sweeney expressed her thoughts on romantic love while speaking to Cosmopolitan. She said, “Like freedom. You know in The Princess Diaries when Anne Hathaway says that when she kisses the guy she knows she’s supposed to be with, her foot will flip up? That’s what love feels like. The lights will magically turn on. The birds will start flying. The fountains start shooting water. Love is a Disney movie.”
Talking about relationships being private or public, she shared, “I was in a relationship for a very long time, 17, for seven and a half years, and I never talked about it. I was very private. No one would ever see us. I think it’s important to have some things for myself. I understand that I’m a public person, but I’m still in my 20s.”
“I’m still figuring out love, and it’s hard to do that with millions of people who have their own opinions of what that looks like. At the same time, for all of my 20s, I put my head down and focused on work-and now I want to experience things. But it’s hard deciding that I want to experience love in the public eye. I’m just navigating it all.”
Previous Relationships
Sydney Sweeney was engaged to businessman Jonathan Davino but the two had called off their engagement in March 2025. Meanwhile, Scooter Braun was married to Yael Cohen and have three children together. After seven years of marriage, the couple called it quits in 2021.
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As India prepares for its next population count in 2026-27, authorities are flagging a growing concern. Ahead of the nationwide count, reports have emerged that fradusters are seen posing as census officials to trick people into sharing sensitive personal and financial information.
ALSO READ: Census 2027: Over 5.72 Lakh Families Use Self-Enumeration Portal
Such rumours have also gone viral online, especially via WhatsApp forwards. One such widely shared message alleged that criminals are posing as Home Ministry officials and using “census duty” as a cover to target homes. This claim has been proven false but authorities are warning people that similar tactics can be used by scammers in the census process.
Conducted once every ten years, India’s census is considered the largest exercise of its kind globally that will cover over 1.4 billion people. The Census is the country’s 16th overall and the eighth since independence. This year, the process is set to go digital with the use of mobile apps and online self-enumeration tools. Scammers are using this as an opportunity to capitalise and retrieve personal information.
How Scammers Can Operate:
- They pose as government officials and ask for ID details or money. They usually label it as “verification charge.”
- Fake websites and emails are created that look like official census portals which are used by scammers to collect personal information.
- Fraud calls and SMS to acquire login credentials, OTPs or other sensitive information.
Be careful of what you share as real census officials will not ask for these details:
- Bank account numbers, debit/credit card details, UPI PINs or OTPs.
- Photocopies of Aadhaar, PAN or any other ID documents.
- Any kind of payment, fee or donation to be included in the census.
Important things to keep in mind during visits:
- Officials will not force their way into your home.
- They will not ask you to download apps or click on suspicious links.
- The questions will be limited to basic demographic, social and economic details only.
How Census 2027 Will Be Carried Out
The census exercise will have millions of personnel deployed across the country to reach households in cities, towns and remote villages. These enumerators will be tasked to ensure that every household is covered.
The process will take place in two phases. In the first phase, officials will gather information about housing conditions. The second phase will cover information about individuals and their social and economic background.
ALSO READ: Census 2027 Phase I Begins Today: Know State-Wise Schedule, Steps For Self-Enumeration
Before field visits begin, residents will get a limited window to fill in their details online through an official portal that supports multiple languages. After details are submitted, a unique self-enumeration ID will be generated. This ID can later be used by officials to verify entries during in-person visits using handheld devices.
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Sharp Market Insights,
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