Funding to tackle homelessness
Erewash Borough Council looks set to accept funding of £408,572 from central government to tackle homelessness.
If approved at the Council Executive meeting on 16 July, the funding, awarded by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, will be used to tackle rough sleeping across Derbyshire and Staffordshire Moorlands District Council as part of a national strategy to put an end to homelessness.
The most recent rough sleeper count, carried out in Erewash in November 2018, identified nine rough sleepers in the borough. A total of 41 rough sleepers were identified across the nine local authority areas that would benefit from the funding.
Acting as the lead authority Erewash Borough Council submitted two collaborative bids for funding on behalf of the seven district councils in Derbyshire and Staffordshire Moorlands District Council, which is aligned with High Peak Borough Council through a strategic alliance.
The funding – £250,000 from the Rough Sleepers Initiative and £158,572 from the Rapid Rehousing Pathway – will be used to deliver a countywide rough sleepers programme and develop new services aimed at helping rough sleepers find permanent solutions to end their homelessness. This will include the deployment of two rough sleeper co-ordinators, one in the north of the county, the other in the south. Five outreach workers and six supported lettings workers will also be commissioned to work across the areas.
Councillor Gerri Hickton, Lead Member for Community Engagement at Erewash Borough Council, says:
“This funding would go towards ensuring that nobody in Erewash has to sleep on the streets. The Government’s rough sleeping strategy, launched last year, aims to see rough sleeping eradicated by 2027 and this is what we would hope to achieve locally through this initiative.”
The Council Executive meeting takes place at 10.30am on 16 July at Ilkeston Town Hall.
