Somerset Council receives more funding to tackle homelessness
They've been handed an extra £242,000 from the latest Rough Sleeper Winter Pressures fund.
Somerset Council has received new funding to help ease winter pressures on homelessness and rough sleeping, as it launches a new strategy to tackle the issue.
They've received an extra £242,000 from the latest Rough Sleeper Winter Pressures funding round, bringing the total to just under £400,000 from the national pot.
The Council has also published its homelessness and rough sleeping strategy for the next five years- subject to approval.
Introducing the strategy, Councillor Sarah Wakefield, Executive Lead Member for Adult Services, Housing and Homelessness, and Claire Tough, Chair of the Somerset Homelessness Reduction Board, said: “Homelessness across the UK is rising, Somerset is no exception to this with high numbers of rough sleepers with increasing needs.
“There is some truly amazing work already happening in our county across all our partners, yet we know that we need to do much more to prevent homelessness.
“Our belief remains that fundamentally no-one should be without a place they can call home, and no-one should have to sleep rough.”
The Council's Strategy sets out key aims to tackle the issue, and requests to government, such as "ensuring local government has the funds to cope with pressures and demands, ending no-fault evictions and funding to build more social housing."
It was commissioned by the Somerset Homelessness Reduction Board; a multi-agency partnership of services and organisations (all sectors) with a role in tackling homelessness and rough sleeping.
The Council add that a consultation was carried out in the summer, inviting Somerset residents and those closely involved in tackling homelessness- including social care, housing and public health- to share their views.