Hull City Council has been awarded just under £1m to continue its work on tackling rough sleeping by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG).
The funding will enable the council and its partner organisations to continue and strengthen homelessness prevention activities, as well as work with rough sleepers.
It will be used to continue to deliver interventions in partnership with organisations in the homelessness sector such as the Rough Sleeper Assessment Hub at the Crossings. The hub offers an integrated approach to tackling and preventing rough sleeping by offering a ‘one-stop-shop’ where all of an individual’s needs can be assessed: including their physical and mental health, advice on finances and debt and support to move into the most appropriate accommodation.
It will also continue the intensive rough sleeper outreach approach and ensure better access to good-quality housing across the private rented sector for homeless households. Furthermore, with this funding the council will be able to trial a new Housing First scheme for rough sleepers, develop an intensive offer of support for care leavers who are at risk of homelessness and work with prisons to ensure that those leaving custody have somewhere to live and do not end up sleeping rough.
Welcoming the funding announcement, the council’s portfolio holder for housing, Councillor John Black, said: “This is excellent news for the city and demonstrates MHCLG’s recognition of the council’s ability to deliver homelessness interventions which are both innovative and having a real impact. The latter was clearly demonstrated by recent rough sleeper counts which have dropped from 26 to 18 over the last two years.”
Councillor Black pointed out that the total funding package aligns with the key priorities and actions from the council’s Preventing Homelessness Strategy and means that we can strengthen existing arrangements in our collective ambition to end rough sleeping in Hull.
