London Councils opens the door to £6 million support for capital’s homeless

Among the schemes that will receive funding include those helping people who sleep rough on London's streets, providing advice and outreach projects for people at risk of becoming homeless and helping people find accommodation after their release from prison.

Homelessness remains at a historic high in the capital with around 61,000 households currently in temporary accommodation, which is around 68 per cent of the national total. Over half of England's severely overcrowded households are also in London

London Councils received 22 applications for funding to provide specialised support and access to permanent and temporary accommodation. It has now commissioned 13 groups, who will provide services benefiting 11,000 people.

Chair of London Councils Grants Committee, Cllr Paul McCannah, said: “It is very difficult for homeless people to change their lives. If people don't have a home it is difficult to find work, and because they don't have work they can't afford to find a home.

“The services we have commissioned are aimed at helping break that cycle and give homeless people a new chance in life.

“It can also be an extremely frightening and stressful time for people if they are faced with the prospect of losing their homes. We are also seeking to help support people faced with this and help them find ways of keeping their roof over their head.â€

Among the groups who have received funding are:

Barnardo's Families in Temporary Accommodation Project will receive a total of £560,590 to support families with children who are either living in temporary accommodation or who are faced with becoming homeless.

London Irish Women's Centre who will receive a total of £245,547 to carry out outreach work to help support and advise families threatened with losing their homes.

The Alcohol Recovery Project which will receive a total of £578,217 over the next four years to provide two specialists to help homeless people to tackle their alcohol addiction.

Stonewall Housing will receive a total of £310,355 to provide support and advice on housing issues to lesbian, gay and transsexual people who are at risk of losing their homes.

Thames Reach, who will receive a total of £830,504 to recruit and train more people to expand their London Street Rescue project, a mobile support service for people sleeping rough on the capital's streets.

Ends

Notes to editors

The £6 million will be distributed to the groups over four years.

London Councils distributes a pan-London grants budget of £28 million. This includes £1.6 million European Social Fund money. It also includes £1.4m which has been set aside for specific second tier funding.

London Councils is now using its pan-London grants budget to commission services from London's voluntary sector. This change follows the findings of an independently chaired Grants Review Board. This was set up in 2004 to look at the distribution of the pan-London grants in individual boroughs, sub regions and across the whole of London. It also looked at areas of good practice from other funding bodies.

The new priority areas that will be used to commission services were developed following an extensive consultation with the voluntary sector, boroughs, the Mayor of London, and people with an interest in London's voluntary sector.

Services will be commissioned in four tranches over the next year.

For press enquiries please contact: Stewart Henderson 020 7934 9620

Stewart.henderson@londoncouncils.gov.uk  Fax 020 7934 9777

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