Swindon Borough Council is set to receive £113,792 to secure short term, interim solutions for rough sleepers as part of the Government’s ‘Everyone In’ initiative – news which has been welcomed by North Swindon MP Justin Tomlinson.
At the beginning of the Coronavirus outbreak, local authorities were asked to bring ‘Everyone In’ and help move rough sleepers off the streets during the outbreak. Nearly 15,000 people accommodated in emergency accommodation were able to self-isolate safely – potentially saving countless lives.
The Government then announced a £105 million fund to secure short term, interim solutions for the individuals brought in off the street as part of the ‘Everyone In’ initiative’, and earlier this week Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick announced the allocations of this latest fund. 274 councils across England will be receiving £91.5 million to provide short term, interim accommodation - including supporting people into the private rented sector and maintaining extended emergency accommodation where needed, for those currently in emergency accommodation.
As a longer-term step, a separate £161 million fund has also been announced to deliver 3,300 units of move-on accommodation for rough sleepers by the end of March 2021. The Government is progressing its assessment of bids for this fund and details of successful bids will be announced in due course. This allocation is part of a broader £433 million funding package which will provide 6,000 homes for rough sleepers over the course of the Parliament, the largest ever investment in accommodation of this kind.
Today’s announcement is on top of the £112 million Rough Sleeping Initiative funding provided to councils earlier this year. The Government has also provided £3.7 billion to help councils manage the impacts of COVID-19, including supporting homeless people, and a further £3.2 million in emergency funding for local authorities to support vulnerable rough sleepers. This comes as part of a total package of almost £28 billion of support to councils, communities and businesses since March. An additional £23 million will also be provided so that vulnerable individuals experiencing rough sleeping, including those currently in emergency accommodation as a response to COVID-19, can access the specialist help they need for substance dependency issues. This funding, together with our pledge to fully enforce the Homelessness Reduction Act, demonstrates our commitment to making the most of this opportunity to transform the lives of the some of the most vulnerable in society, and to ending rough sleeping for good.
Justin Tomlinson said: “I am very proud of the Government’s work to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping during the Coronavirus outbreak, using the current situation as an opportunity to really tackle this issue. I am assured that the Government will push on from this work and will end rough sleeping once and for all.”
