- Rough sleepers across Croydon to have access to new, safe, long-term homes, along with support, backed by more than £150 million.
- First 3,300 of 6,000 planned new homes for rough sleepers to be delivered by March 2021.
- Conservative Government investing more than £700 million to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping this year as part of manifesto commitment to end rough sleeping.
Mario Creatura has welcomed the news that the Government is providing funding for Croydon for new, long-term homes for rough sleepers and other vulnerable people.
In total, projects across England will receive more than £150 million to deliver more than 3,300 such secure homes by the end of March 2021, providing long term accommodation to vulnerable people to keep them safe from coronavirus and rebuild their lives.
Croydon will receive £728,810 for local schemes that provide secure ‘move on’ style accommodation for people at risk of sleeping on the streets and is an important step towards achieving the Conservative Party’s manifesto commitment to end rough sleeping by 2024, alongside investment in new homes for social rent.
This is part of the Government’s investment of £433 million to deliver 6,000 new homes for rough sleepers by the end of this Parliament and builds on the widely praised ‘Everyone In’ campaign launched at the start of the pandemic which has helped support over 29,000 vulnerable people – enabling councils to keep rough sleepers safe this winter.
In total, 276 schemes have been approved across England, which will deliver 904 new homes for rough sleepers in London and 2,430 elsewhere across the country. This sits alongside the £91.5 million in grant funding given to councils to support vulnerable people and provide short term accommodation over the coming months, and a £10 million Cold Weather Fund to support winter shelters and ensure they are Covid-secure.
Commenting, Mario Creatura said:
This Conservative Government, working closely with local authorities, has shown throughout the pandemic that it is willing to take the swift, decisive action necessary to keep some of the most vulnerable people in our community safe. On behalf of everyone I’d like to thank all those involved for everything they’ve done to get people off our streets and into secure, safe accommodation.
The ‘Everyone In’ campaign has protected thousands of lives. If we are to deliver on the promise we made in our manifesto to end rough sleeping by the end of the Parliament, then the people who have been helped need to be able to access long-term housing that gives them the safety and security they need to rebuild their lives, which is exactly what the funding announced today will do.
Commenting, Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick said:
Our Everyone In plan is widely considered the most effective action taken by any country in the world to protect those sleeping rough from the pandemic. And that work hasn’t stopped - 29,000 rough sleepers and other vulnerable people have been supported into safe accommodation since the start of COVID-19.
The next step in our mission is to ensure they have a more settled home. Which is why we are providing over £150 million, as part of the biggest ever investment in homes for the homeless, to deliver over 3,000 new long-term homes across England, giving them the stability and security they need to start to rebuild their lives.
How else are we helping?
- Providing thousands of new long-term, safe homes for rough sleepers who have been helped off the streets. Backed by more than £150 million, over 3,000 new homes will be made available in every region of England by the end of March 2021 as part of the Government’s investment of £433 million to deliver 6,000 by 2024. This will enable people who sleep rough, or at risk of sleeping rough, to be rehoused in secure, long-term accommodation, providing some of the most vulnerable in society with a permanent place to live and help to rebuild their lives (MHCLG, Press Release, 24 May 2020, link).
- Supporting people at risk of homelessness through our unprecedented Everyone In programme. We’ve given councils more than £6.4 billion in extra funding since the pandemic began, allowing them to help 90 per cent of rough sleepers off the streets and into secure accommodation. In total, more than 29,000 people either sleeping on the streets or at risk of homelessness have been supported, with our Everyone In plan widely considered the most effective action taken by any country in the world to protect those sleeping rough from the pandemic.
- As part of the ‘Everyone In’ initiative, approximately 15,000 people who were sleeping rough, in unsafe communal settings or at imminent risk of rough sleeping have been placed into emergency accommodation during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Next Steps Accommodation Programme (NSAP) makes available the financial resources needed to support local authorities and their partners to prevent these people from returning to the streets (MHCLG, Guidance, 29 October 2020, link).
- Giving councils extra funding to continue providing accommodation and support to people at risk of rough sleeping. 274 councils will receive a share of £91.5 million to pay for schemes that ensure provision can continue, so that no one who has been helped during the pandemic returns to sleeping on the streets. This will help people move from emergency into secure accommodation, for example by helping to pay for a deposit for rental accommodation. A further £13.5 million will also be available to help councils tackle new or emerging challenges (MHCLG, Press Release, 17 September 2020, link).
Photo by Anjana Menon on Unsplash
