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Councils receive funding to provide housing and support for thousands of vulnerable people


A total of 274 local councils will share £91.5 million of Treasury funding to provide interim accommodation and support for vulnerable people, as part of the Government's long-term commitment to end rough sleeping. The money can be used in a variety of ways,


including by helping people into the private rented sector, secure interim accommodation such as supported housing, and assess the wider support these people need in order to rebuild their lives. An additional £13.5 million fund will be used to enable local authorities to tackle new or emerging challenges. Applications are now being considered for a


further £161 million fund intended to provide over 3,300 additional supported homes this year for those sleeping rough or currently housed in emergency accommodation. Details on successful bids will be announced in due course. This is part of a broader support package to provide 6,000 homes over four years. Thousands of vulnerable people who were


housed during the pandemic will be helped to stay in accommodation this year thanks to the allocations of funding announced. Of the £91.5m of allocations, £43.2m (47 per cent) will go to London boroughs, while £15m (16 per cent) will go to councils in the South East and £7.6m (8 per cent) to the North West, with the rest being split between other regions in England. Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick said: “The


incredible national effort to support rough sleepers during the pandemic has protected many lives and is widely regarded as one of the most successful programmes of its kind in the world. I’m hugely grateful to all those involved. “This funding will ensure that vulnerable


people and rough sleepers continue to have safe accommodation and the care and support they need, to ensure as few as possible return to the streets.” Chief Executive of St Mungo’s Steve Douglas


said: “We welcome the speed with which this funding has been allocated. It will be for both homes and support, and will build on the success of the ‘Everyone In’ initiative, which enabled us, and other homelessness charities and service providers, to help almost 15,000 people sleeping rough or at risk of homelessness to move into emergency accommodation during the pandemic, and to receive the support they needed. This undoubtedly saved lives.”


Homelessness Reduction Act helps 243,680 people to keep their home or move into longer-term accommodation


at risk of becoming homeless have been helped to keep their home or move into longer-term accommodation in the past two years. TheAct came into effect in April 2018 when it


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placed extra duties on councils to try to prevent homelessness, rather than just helping people to find accommodation after they had already become homeless. The new duties apply irrespective of whether a person has a ‘priority need’ or may be regarded as being ‘intentionally homeless’. It also placed a duty on public bodies to refer


people at risk of homelessness, flagging those most vulnerable to homelessness and rough sleeping so they could receive support. In many respects it was the most ambitious reform of homelessness legislation in decades and it appears to be achieving many of its goals, although councils are spending many millions of pounds more on discharging their new duties, than they are receiving in additional grants. Since the introduction of the Act, 365,000


single households (almost two thirds of the total number of households), including 28,000 people with a history of rough sleeping and over 15,000 people who were rough sleeping at the time of the assessment, have been assessed as owed help to prevent or relieve their homelessness. Ministers say this means the Act is meeting its


goal of helping people who previously would not have had access to support. The review of the Act has also provided feedback on where further work is needed, including on administration, data collection and joint working. The Act has been backed by over half a billion


pounds to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping over 2020 to 2021 – to break the cycle of homelessness and end rough sleeping for good.


ADDITIONAL HELP Measures taken include the Next Steps Accommodation Programme, which funds local authorities and their partners to prevent people from returning to the streets, and the fast-


10 | HMM October/November 2020 | www.housingmmonline.co.uk


review of the Homelessness Reduction Act has found nearly a quarter of a million people who were homeless or


tracking of 6,000 additional homes for former rough sleepers across the country. The Government has also put in place various


support measures for renters, such as the eviction ban for six months and increasing notice periods to six months so most renters can stay in their homes over winter. Minister for Rough Sleeping and Housing


Kelly Tolhurst said: “The Act is working well, with councils supporting the most vulnerable, meaning many more people who may not previously have been eligible for support now have the help they need. “This Government is committed to ending


rough sleeping for good by the end of this Parliament and we have backed this up with over half a billion pounds of funding in this year alone.” The Government is providing £4.8 billion


councils to help councils to manage the impacts of COVID-19 which includes their work to support homeless people. This also includes £3.7 billion which is not ringfenced and over £1.1 billion specifically to support social care providers. Responding to the review of the Homelessness


Reduction Act, Councillor David Renard, the Local Government Association’s housing spokesperson, said: “Since the Act was introduced, councils have continued to work hard to manage increased demand for support and find safe and secure housing for thousands of homeless people. “The long-term impact of coronavirus on


council homelessness services, which were already under significant pressures before the pandemic, is currently unclear. It is vital that the Spending Review shifts the Government’s focus towards the key drivers of homelessness, including a lack of affordable housing, welfare-related poverty, and a lack of an integrated prevention approach. “This means Government investment in


homelessness prevention, giving councils the powers to build the desperately-needed new generation in social housing the country needs and ensuring that the role of the local safety net is adequately resourced.”


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