Three areas in England are set to launch new pilot projects to
support rough sleepers with complex needs get off the streets
into stable and affordable accommodation, Housing Secretary Rt
Hon MP has announced today (9
May 2018).
The projects in Greater Manchester, Liverpool City Region and the
West Midlands Combined Authority will offer individuals intensive
support to recover from complex health issues, for example
substance abuse and mental health difficulties and sustain their
tenancies.
The pilot projects will be based on Housing First, an
internationally proven approach to supporting rough sleepers into
long-term accommodation.
Funding for the Government’s Housing First Pilots was announced
at Autumn Budget.
Housing Secretary Rt Hon MP said:
“The evidence shows Housing First has an incredible rate of
success in providing rough sleepers with the support they need to
get off the streets and to rebuild their lives.
“We are investing over £1.2 billion to break the homelessness
cycle, but we know there’s more to do to help people off the
streets for good. This is why the Government is leading the way
in implementing Housing First in England.
“I believe these pilots will have a positive impact in their
areas and I look forward to hearing about their successes over
the coming months.”
Housing First is a tried and tested approach to tackling
long-term rough sleeping that puts the emphasis on finding
individuals a secure and affordable home to live in, while
providing them with expert support to rebuild their lives.
In Europe, Housing First projects have been successful at ending
homelessness for at least 8 out of 10 people in the scheme. This
is compared to hostel-based accommodation which has resulted in
between 40% and 60% of users with complex needs leaving, or
ejected, before their homelessness is resolved.
Today’s announcement builds on measures the Government is
bringing forward to halve rough sleeping by 2022 and end it
altogether by 2027, including:
- A new Rough Sleeping Team made up of rough sleeping and
homelessness experts with specialist knowledge across a
wide-range of areas from housing, mental health and addiction;
- A £30 million fund for 2018 to 2019 with further funding
agreed for 2019 to 2020 targeted at local authorities with high
numbers of people sleeping rough. These areas will be supported
by the new Rough Sleeping Team to develop local interventions to
reduce the numbers of those sleeping rough; and
- £100,000 funding to support frontline Rough Sleeping workers
to make sure they have the right skills and knowledge to work
with vulnerable rough sleepers.
The Government is additionally working with the National Housing
Federation to look at providing additional, coordinated move-on
accommodation for rough sleepers.
Background
A full breakdown of allocations for Housing First is as follows:
|
Distribution £m
|
|
Liverpool City Region
|
7.7
|
|
Greater Manchester
|
8.0
|
|
West Midlands
|
9.6
|
|
Total
|
25.30
|
