Suffolk homelessness charity calls for long term funding - as demand increases
It comes after three local authorities signed a joint letter saying they're facing a crisis because of the number of people in temporary accommodation
Last updated 9th Nov 2023
Homelessness charities in Suffolk say they need promises of long term funding - as they face rising demand.
It comes after three local authorities - Ipswich, West and East Suffolk Councils - signed a joint letter saying they're facing a crisis because of the number of people in temporary accommodation.
We spoke to Claire Staddon, chief executive of Emmaus Suffolk, who told us their funding only lasts 6 months at a time and this year they face fewer opportunities to access funding as "less comes online."
Claire suggests this means it's harder for Emmaus to plan ahead and think about larger projects or issues to tackle because they don't know if they will have the funding throughout.
She explained: "It can be really challenging to underpin your core costs because funding bids tend to want to have action-orientated outreach...
"It's an unfortunate behaviour because it's short-term reactive funding to an immediate problem rather than long-term systematic improvement."
She went on to explain that this impacts the care they are able to give the people who come to them for help and quite often have to address the immediate problem, as the solutions for longer-term problems, require funding, resources and planning.
What they want to see
Claire told us there need to be "front-end service provisions because it's really important that somebody who's falling into crisis gets help now."
She went on to say that having the resources available in the first place could actually save money: "If we can stop that person from getting into that crisis in the first place, then we've saved ourselves a lot of long-term money.
"Ultimately we all want to be participatory and productive, not only in our own lives, but in our local community."
The government announced it would press ahead with reforms to the housing market in the King's Speech earlier this week.