Industry News


Councils share £46 million pot to get people off the streets


from Night Shelters to permanent housing. The money has been allocated from the


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Government’s £100 million Rough Sleeping Strategy budget, to 246 areas nationwide – providing an estimated 750 additional staff and over 2,600 new beds in total. It will be paid out to councils over the next two years. As well as paying for accommodation the funds


will be used for additional staff and outreach services. Over three-quarters of local authorities in England are now covered by the Rough Sleeping Initiative programme, which aims to end rough sleeping by the year 2027. It is estimated that the money will provide funding for up to:


• 110 rough sleeping coordinators to improve local handing of the issue;


• 300 outreach workers and 350 other support and specialist roles;


• over 1,400 new emergency bed spaces, including winter night shelter provision;


• over 700 new long-term beds, including in the private rented sector and supported housing;


• more than 500 new temporary spaces, such as in hostels; and


• over £2.5 million for spot-purchasing beds and increasing access to accommodation.


Some projects will provide specialist support such as family reconnections, immigration advice or access to mental and physical health services. Others will focus on providing services for specific


groups of people, such as vulnerable women, those transitioning from leaving care or people trying to get their life back on track after leaving prison. Communities Secretary James Brokenshire said:


“The £100 million-backed Rough Sleeping Strategy sets out this Government’s blueprint for ending rough sleeping for good. We must keep up the momentum and that’s why we are giving this funding to areas and projects that need


it, ensuring progress continues to be made and people are given the help they need to turn their lives around.” Some £34 million is going to the 83 authorities


with the highest number of rough sleepers and a further £12 million is set aside for spending on other areas and projects in the 2019-20 year. An additional £1 million will be funded from within existing budgets.


ouncils in England will share over £46 million to help get rough sleepers off the streets and into accommodation ranging


Homelessness in Wales at highest level since law changed


Homelessness in Wales has climbed to its highest level since new legislation designed to tackle the problem was passed in 2015, with continuing austerity and welfare reforms being blamed for the increases. Some 2,997 households became homeless from


October to December 2018, while another 2,649 households were identified as threatened with becoming homeless within 56 days.


Ministers defended their policies, saying that


tackling homelessness and rough sleeping is a priority for the Welsh Government and their measures had already prevented more than 21,400 households from becoming homeless. The Housing Act (Wales) 2014 introduced new


duties for councils to prevent people from becoming homeless. Similar measures were introduced in England from the start of April 2018 under the Homelessness Reduction Act.


INCREASED DEMAND In the final quarter of last year Welsh councils were successful in finding new accommodation for 43 per cent of the homeless households and were able to prevent 67 per cent of the other households from becoming homeless. However, they could not stop the number of


homeless households in B&Bs from increasing to 270 (up by 58 per cent from last year), while the overall number of households in temporary accommodation rose to 2,139, its second-highest ever total. Matt Dicks, director of the Chartered Institute of


Housing Cymru, said: “The statistics shed a worrying light on the nature of our homelessness challenge. The pressure on social housing supply means


that in practice there is an ongoing reliance on the private rented sector and a growing trend in the use of bed and breakfast accommodation, particularly for families with children. He called on the Welsh Government to provide


more support for private landlords working with councils to house homeless families and to speed up the roll-out of Housing First across the country.


www.housingmmonline.co.uk | HMM April/May 2019 | 13


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