Charities have welcomed the Government’s £100 million strategy to tackle rough sleeping on the streets, but say more affordable accommodation needs “urgently” to be made available.
It comes as James Brokenshire, the communities secretary, admitted that efforts to tackle homelessness had “not been good enough”, with estimates suggesting as many as 4,751 people are sleeping rough on any given night in the UK.
He said the government’s homelessness strategy, launched on 13 August, will provide a three-pronged approach: prevention, intervention and recovery. £30m will go towards mental health treatment and provide training for frontline staff. A further £50m will be set aside to fund homes outside of London for people ready to move on from hostels and those seeking refuge from domestic abuse.
Homelessness charity, Depaul, said the Government’s strategy “merely promises” to consider making welfare system changes “by which time more young people will be sleeping rough because they can’t find anywhere they can afford to live.”
The charity has published its own rough sleeping report, ‘Life on the Streets’, to coincide with the publication of the Government’s strategy. It found that in the 40 local authorities with the highest number of 18-to-25-years-olds sleeping rough, 225 young people were sleeping rough on a single night across these areas, but just 57 private rented rooms were available to young, single people claiming housing benefit.
“Greater investment in emergency accommodation is required,” said Depaul UK CEO Mike Thiedke.
In their report, released on 14 August, Depaul recommend that the Government invest in accredited emergency accommodation, such as Depaul UK’s Nightstop emergency accommodation network; increase the level of housing benefit for young people to bring it in line with the real cost of renting; and work with more landlords to make affordable accommodation available to young people on low incomes.
The social action agency of the Catholic Church, CSAN, likewise welcomed the new Government strategy but said a lack of social housing was keeping people on the streets. CSAN’s chief executive, Dr Phil McCarthy said the availability of social housing was declining and pointed out that the Government had so far delayed plans on Green Paper on social housing.
“We encourage landlords and vendors to take greater responsibility: by accepting more tenants on benefits and, where practical, making property prices more affordable,” Dr McCarthy continued.
The lead Bishop for the Catholic Mental Health Project, Richard Moth, said he welcomed the plan, and that he was “especially pleased” to hear that the Government is to dedicate £30m to funding mental health help and treatment for substance misuse, which he described as “problems from which many of those living on the streets suffer.“
He continued: “While this plan is significant, we hope that further steps will be taken to ensure the sense of urgency that this challenge demands.”
Loading ...
