18.10.16
Government promises £40m to tackle homelessness
Local authorities can bid for a share of £40m funding to help prevent people becoming homeless, the DCLG announced today.
Councils will be able to bid, collaboratively or individually, for grants from the £20m Trailblazers Fund for new approaches to preventing homelessness.
The funding, available until 2019, can be used for initiatives including identifying at-risk households, helping people earlier than the statutory 28 days when they are threatened with loss of their home, and offering help to a wider group of people than those owed homelessness duty.
Sajid Javid, the communities and local government secretary, said: “One person without a home is one too many, which is why we are launching this new £40m programme to tackle homelessness and prevent it happening in the first place.”
In addition to the Trailblazers Fund, local authorities can receive a share of a £10m Rough Sleeping Grant, which aims to help those who are at imminent risk of sleeping rough or new to the streets.
They can also bid for access to a £10m fund to commission social impact bonds to help 1,500 to 2,000 long-term rough sleepers or homeless individuals within a geographic area.
The funding will be paid out when given outcomes are achieved for the individuals in areas such as accommodation, employment, education, mental health and substance abuse.
Homelessness in the UK is skyrocketing, with rough sleeping increasing by 30% in the past year. After a recent Communities and Local Government Committee report found ‘unacceptable’ variation in how councils cope with the problem, the committee took the unusual step of sponsoring the new Homelessness Reduction Bill.
Prime minister Theresa May said the funding was part of her commitment to “a country that works for everyone”.
“We know there is no single cause of homelessness but I am determined to do more to prevent it happening by supporting those facing challenging issues like domestic abuse, addiction, mental health issues or redundancy,” she said.
(Image c. Jonathan Brady from PA Archive)
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