Nottingham receives £6.5m boost to support city’s rough sleepers

The City Council has been successful in applying for more than £6.5m to support rough sleepers in Nottingham over the next three years.

The grant is the full amount requested from the Rough Sleeping Initiative and one of the largest awards in the country, which indicates the progress made by the authority and its partners to support the homeless in recent years and throughout the pandemic.

A total of £2,257,587 will be received this year from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, followed by £2,317,639 in 2023/34 and then £2,020,831 in 2024/25 – totalling £6,596,057 across the whole period.

Councils are expected to produce annual development plans with targets and report back to the Government on progress against this.

Partners such as Framework, Emmanuel House, Nottingham Arimathea Trust and Bloom Social Housing work together with specialist officers at the City Council to:

• Identify people, engage them and assess needs
• Navigate services and deliver support
• Access and provide supported accommodation.

There will be more emphasis over the next three years on prevention of rough sleeping and sustained resettlement.

This will be supported by a further £1.67m of funding secured by Nottingham City Council and partners Metropolitan Thames Valley, Places For People and Framework through the latest round of the Rough Sleeping Accommodation Programme.

Over the past two years, Nottingham has been successful in five bids to this project for nine schemes which, by 2024, will deliver 87 new flats as stable homes with support for rough sleepers or single people at risk of rough sleeping.

Councillor Toby Neal, Portfolio Holder for Housing and Human Resources at Nottingham City Council, said: “We welcome this allocation of more than £6.5m, which is our largest award to date and will make a big difference in our city.

“We’ve had to work hard to secure it and this shows how much value is placed on the work we do alongside our partner agencies to support rough sleepers and homeless people in Nottingham.

“We’ve had to outline why it’s needed in Nottingham and what support we have in place for rough sleepers, so to have been awarded one of the largest grants outside London is really good news for the city.

“As ever, we are reliant on our local partners, to quickly respond with quality services and we thank them for their continued contributions and commitment.

“However, demand is increasing in Nottingham and further pressures are expected as the longer-term impacts of the pandemic and cost of living crisis takes effect over the coming years.

“We remain committed to preventing rough sleeping. It is often a symptom of a wider problem or in more cases a combination of issues like substance dependency, mental health and trauma. We need to continue our work with partners and ensure commitment across the public, community and private sectors to help address the needs that cause street homelessness.”

Denis Tully, CEO at Emmanuel House Support Centre, said: “Emmanuel House is committed to working with Nottingham City Council and partner agencies to continue to deliver quality services to prevent, intervene in, and aid recovery from, homelessness and to meet the challenges of homelessness and its underlying causes.”

Bea Giaquinto, Director at the Nottingham Arimathea Trust, said: “We deliver services to vulnerable refugees and people from abroad, meeting the different challenges brought about by homelessness.

“We are delighted to be working with Nottingham City Council and our wider homelessness-sector partners to address the issues and needs of people within the city.”

Andrew Redfern, Chief Executive of Framework, said: “This is good news for Nottingham and we share the City Council's satisfaction with the award. As ever, it is the outcome of strong partnership working.

“Framework is committed to the joint endeavour with Government and other partners to end rough sleeping, not just in Nottingham but across the country.

“The further resources now available will allow us to continue meeting the emergency needs of those who present to our street outreach team, whilst also creating the housing and support options that are essential to an effective long-term strategy.

“We look forward to working closely with the City Council and other partners to implement this strategy in the months and years ahead.”

Geeta Nanda OBE, Chief Executive of Metropolitan Thames Valley, said: “We are delighted to cooperate with Nottingham City Council to provide homelessness support, and committed to providing people with the help they need to access and enjoy safe and comfortable homes.

“As such, we welcome the Government’s investment in ending rough sleeping. This funding will help us to expand homelessness services in the area, giving more people the chance to build better lives.”