This is one of the biggest problems in the UK. I believe if they spend the money wisely on the homeless. My idea would be by building small cheap complexes for them to live in with individual Apartments like bedsits.
the complexes could be built around the country where most needed.
A bit like small army camps, run by a few people trained with the skills needed to understand the plight of the homeless and manage the complexes by ensuring a limited amount of discipline by ensuring no illegal drug use etc. and give the residents a sense of community and purpose, and most of all give them a sense of safety and security if they so wish to take up the offer of accommodation. those that fall short of the standards required to maintain there residency should be asked to leave.
The amount of money the government pays out to greedy landlords for rents, by the way that is why the government brought out the benefit cap because of the extremely high rents being payed out. The unemployed person does not see any of this benefit and only gets a small amount to live on. before the benefit cap the rent was a separate matter, but it is now tied to total benefit, and made the poorest even poorer by taking off there living allowance towards paying rent. so very cheap rent bellow market value should and would be expected for this type of accommodation, and if owned and operated by local authorities should have minimal cost.