Supporting homelessness initiatives

By John Paterson · 28 May 2020

On Sunday the Guardian reported that £160m would be bought forward by Government (click here to view article) to support the delivery of 3,300 new homes within 12 months.

But the Mayor of London (click here to view response) and other authorities are concerned at the impending issues caused if the Coronavirus Emergency Programme funding ends in mid-June.

As a consultancy embedded within, and assisting local authorities and housing associations to house homeless people, we share their very real concern that a relaxation in lockdown and the ending of emergency support could undo much of the good work completed to reduce the risks to homeless people.

The work undertaken by thousands of dedicated workers to immediately reduce street homelessness is one of the few silver linings in the pandemic. The commitment to fund longer term solutions is welcome and we are working with others to find solutions that can be speedily implemented. We cannot have people returned to the streets whilst those longer terms solutions are put in place. We would be very pleased to talk about the specific initiatives we are involved in.