Emergency homeless funding to be given to two Leicestershire councils
Two Leicestershire councils are to receive emergency homelessness funding. The £10 million pot of Government cash is being shared among local authorities with the “highest need”.
Both Leicester City Council and Charnwood Borough Council have been offered part of the funding. Some £143,000 will go to the city, which is expecting to spend £16 million on homelessness services this financial year. A further £42,000 is to be given to the borough authority.
The money is intended to “fund critical services to prevent homelessness and support people into secure, stable housing”. Leicester City Council declared a housing crisis in November 2022, and pressures in the city have only increased in the years since.
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Some 5,385 people approached the council’s homelessness service in the 2023/24 financial year, up from 4,869 the year before. The number of families and individuals in temporary accommodation was the “highest for decades” at 1,072 at the end of March, the local authority said. Additionally, for “the first time in many years”, families were staying in that accommodation for more than six weeks.
The council was told to pay compensation to one family after it left them stuck in unsuitable B&B accommodation for 19 weeks. However, the council refused to pay part of fee, saying the housing crisis was to blame and the situation was outside of its control, despite its "best efforts" to create more homes.
The number of reported rough sleepers also increased. There were 464 individuals reported to be rough sleeping between in 2023/24 compared to 447 the previous year.
Assistant mayor for housing Elly Cutkelvin welcomed the additional funding. She said: “It will help us to provide additional temporary accommodation over the winter months, and more support for entrenched rough sleepers to prevent them from going back onto the streets.
“We are still working on the details as to exactly how the money will be allocated, but are already working with local charities One Roof, Help the Homeless and Action Homeless to provide extra services. This new funding will be on top of the £16 million the city council already spends on preventing homelessness, providing temporary accommodation and supporting rough sleepers each year.”
A Charnwood Borough Council spokesperson said: “We welcome any additional funding from the Government in relation to homelessness. The Council delivers a range of services and initiatives to prevent and relieve homelessness and will use the funds to support delivery of our recently updated Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy 2024-29 which can be found on our website.”
Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner announced the funding, saying: “Anyone forced to sleep rough on our streets represents a complete failure of the broken system we've inherited. It's a national disgrace, and we can’t keep sticking plasters on it.
“We are approaching the harshest months of the year which is why we are taking immediate action to reach anyone sleeping rough and help them off the streets this winter. Bringing together Ministers across government is a crucial step to tackle this crisis at its root and ensure everyone has access to the basic right of safe and secure housing.”