Council welcomes £400k grant for rough sleepers
Birmingham City Council and Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council have successfully bid for £400,000 of government funding to help get people new to the streets the rapid support that they need.
The Rough Sleeping Grant will be used to support people by offering them a safe place to sleep, physical and mental health checks and substance misuse screening. Work will be co-ordinated through a team of nurses, substance misuse workers and housing and support officers and will link to existing outreach and other service providers. Two new posts will be funded to support those vulnerable to rough sleeping after being discharged from Heartlands and Solihull Hospitals and HMP Birmingham. Funding will also be given to a new assessment and triage night shelter.
Birmingham City Council’s cabinet member for housing and homes, Cllr Peter Griffiths, said: ”Rough sleeping is not a lifestyle choice and as with all aspects of homelessness it springs from issues that need early intervention. This programme will help people who are new to sleeping rough or who are in danger of sleeping rough through a range of targeted, specialist interventions and will support those people we have identified as being particularly vulnerable to rough sleeping. Only by working in a targeted way with partners across the city and the surrounding area can we ensure that vulnerable people get the support that they need.”
The Rough Sleeping Grant comes a week after the government also confirmed financial support to the tune of £1.7million for Birmingham City Council’s efforts to prevent homelessness through the government’s Homelessness Prevention Trailblazer scheme.
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Note to editors:
- The partners working on the Rough Sleeping bid are – Birmingham City Council, Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council, Midland Heart, Trident Reach, Shelter, Birmingham Voluntary Sector Council, Change Grow Live, Cross City CCG, Sifa, Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health Foundation Trust
- The partners working on the Trailblazer bid are – Birmingham City Council, St Basil’s, Birmingham and Solihull Women’s Aid, Crisis, Shelter, Sifa, Midland Heart, South Birmingham Young Homeless Project, YMCA, CCGs, BSHMHFT, Trident Reach, Salvation Army, West Midlands Fire Service, Housing Justice, West Midlands Police, CGL, CRC, National Probation Service
