The government have announced a £316m funding boost to the Homelessness Prevention Grant, which will support households in England who are homeless, or at risk of losing their home
Councils will use the funding from the Homelessness Prevention Grant to help them find a new home, access support for unexpected evictions, and secure temporary accommodation where needed.
The funding includes an additional £5.8m to support people forced into homelessness by domestic abuse. This follows the landmark Domestic Abuse Act, which ensures councils give people who find themselves in this situation a “priority need” for assistance.
The funding underlines the government’s commitment to ensure that people who are at risk of becoming homeless get help more quickly.
Since the Homelessness Reduction Act came into force in 2018, over 400,000 households have been successfully prevented from losing their homes or supported into settled accommodation, with rough sleeping levels falling 37% between 2019 and 2020.
‘Helping thousands of people across England’
Minister for rough sleeping, Eddie Hughes, said: “I have seen first-hand the devastation of those who come face to face with homelessness, and my heart goes out to anyone in this situation. The support we are announcing today is going directly to communities that need it most.
“It will help thousands of people across England, with councils able to prevent homelessness before it occurs and put a roof over the heads of those who have lost their homes”.
‘Rise in domestic abuse during lockdowns’
Jon Sparkes, chief executive of Crisis, said: “To end homelessness we need to prevent people being forced from their homes in the first place, so this funding for vital local authority services is very welcome.
“With the appalling rise in domestic abuse during lockdowns and the pandemic forcing many more into homelessness, it is especially important that councils in England will have more money to provide accommodation for survivors”.
The Homelessness Prevention Grant has been announced on top of the £66m funding to provide rough sleepers with safe and warm accommodation and drug and alcohol treatment services.
There is also a £65m support package for vulnerable renters struggling due to the impact of the pandemic. Overall, the government is investing £2bn over the next three years to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping.
The government has also announced a £28m funding boost to help rough sleepers get their COVID-19 vaccines and move into safe accommodation.
The Protect and Vaccinate scheme will help to increase vaccine uptake among people who are homeless and sleeping rough, by supporting outreach work in shelters to educate people about the dangers of the virus, and giving money to councils to provide safe and secure accommodation while their level of vaccination is increased.
