Rough sleeping winter funding tripled to help people off the streets
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Rough sleeping funding to help people off the streets this winter has been tripled to £30 million. The Government had announced £10 million before Christmas to boost the use of emergency accommodation, but said an extra £20 million is now available to tackle record levels of rough sleeping.
It is understood the money was left over in the departmental budget and ministers wanted to prioritise any extra money towards this issue. Housing and homelessness charity Shelter said the funding is “a very welcome step” but that without further investment in social housing, it would be only a “temporary fix”.
Some 280 councils in England, including all London boroughs, will be given some of the extra funding to enable more people to move from the streets into safe accommodation with access to medical treatment. Data published in November showed an increase in the number of people sleeping rough in London of almost a fifth on the same period the previous year.
Homelessness minister Rushanara Ali, who will appear before a committee in Parliament on Tuesday to be questioned by MPs on Government efforts to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping, said many people had been “let down by the system for far too long”.
She said: “This Government is more determined than ever to turn the tide on years of failure to properly invest in our frontline services. “That is why I am tripling the emergency funding from £10 million to £30 million for councils to help the most vulnerable into safe and secure housing with warm beds, hot meals and specialist care.”.
