Councils will obtain a money injection of practically £1bn subsequent yr to deal with homelessness in England, Angela Rayner has introduced.
The deputy prime minister and housing secretary stated 160,000 youngsters confronted spending Christmas and not using a common residence resulting from failures within the system and vowed to “break the cycle of spiralling homelessness and get back on track to ending it for good”.
The funding, described by Ms Rayner because the “largest-ever” funding and a “turning point”, will assist councils intervene early to cease households turning into homeless, together with by means of mediation with landlords to stop eviction.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Native Authorities (MHCLG) stated the cash may be used on providers that prioritise entry to everlasting social housing for individuals with a historical past of repeat homelessness and drug and alcohol abuse.
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The newest statistics present that homelessness, which incorporates individuals residing in non permanent lodging, is at file ranges, with 123,100 households in England in non permanent lodging within the three months to the top of June.
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Sadiq Khan and Angela Rayner throughout a go to to the homelessness charity Disaster in east London.
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The determine marks a rise of 16.3% on the identical interval the earlier yr.
The identical statistics confirmed 159,380 youngsters have been in non permanent lodging between April and June this yr.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Native Authorities stated the nation faces “the worst housing crisis in living memory” with some 40% of homeless households residing in B&Bs or nightly-let lodging, as the usage of such emergency lodging has doubled in three years.
Ms Rayner stated: “Too many people have been failed by the system time and again.
“160,000 youngsters face spending this Christmas and not using a secure place to name residence. I’m decided to interrupt the cycle of spiralling homelessness and get again on observe to ending it for good.
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“This largest-ever investment marks a turning point, giving councils the tools they need to act quickly and put in place support for people to tackle, reduce and prevent homelessness. It’s time to turn the tide.
“This historic funding comes alongside our work growing a cross-government technique again on observe to finish homelessness, pulling each lever of the state, to make sure that we ship not simply sticking plasters however a long-term plan.”
The funding, which will be introduced from April, includes more than £633m for the homelessness prevention grant, a £192m increase from this year, which will be allocated based on local pressures.
Five million will go towards pilots to reduce emergency accommodation in areas with the highest use of B&Bs.
Housing charity Shelter said the cash injection was “very important to assist councils assist individuals going through homelessness”.
However, it said the government needed to build 90,000 homes a year for 10 years, saying: ” You can not remedy homelessness with out houses”.
One of the central missions of the new Labour government is to build 1.5 million homes by the end of this parliament – with local councils last week told to come up with “quick, necessary” housing targets as a part of the plan.
