Henry Smith MP welcomes £65 million to combat homelessness

Henry Smith, Crawley’s MP, has welcomed over £65 million of funding to support councils and other organisations in tackling homelessness around the country. 

Henry commented: 

“I’ve been a long standing supporter of the dedicated support that charities, like Open House in Three Bridges, offer people at risk of homelessness. It’s important, however, to also remember that those affected also need help with their education, employment and health so that individuals have the right skills, confidence and opportunities to make a better life for themselves. 

“I’m pleased that this Government has increased spending on preventing homelessness, building on its hard work to ensure that homelessness acceptances are now lower than in 27 of the last 30 years. 

“The additional £65 million to help councils and charities provide tailored support to homeless people, so they can find stable accommodation and live independent and fulfilling lives.” 

The funding will be invested across five programmes: 

  • an £8 million Help for Single Homeless Fundthat will improve council services for single people facing the prospect of homelessness; 
  • the £15 million Fair Chance Fund, an innovative “payments by results” scheme, that will provide accommodation, education, training and employment opportunities for around 2,000 of our  most vulnerable young homeless people; 
  •  a total of £41.5 million will be shared between Homelessness Change funding to provide tailored temporary hostel accommodation for rough sleepers to get them off the streets and transform their lives through health, training and education facilities, and Platform for Life funding to provide shared accommodation for young people at risk of homelessness so they have a stable platform for work and study; and  
  • more than £580,000 to extend the Homelessness Gold Standard scheme, which helps councils to improve frontline housing services for homeless families and single people. 

 

This funding announcement comes in addition to the £470 million that the Government has maintained since 2010 to tackle rough sleeping and homelessness and the No Second Night Out scheme, which has helped thousands of people off the streets since its launch in 2011 and aims to ensure no-one spends a second night sleeping rough.