Earlier this year I announced a £105 million fund to secure short term, interim solutions for the individuals brought in off the street as part of the government’s ‘Everyone In’ initiative – bringing inside some of the most vulnerable people to enable them to self-isolate and get the help they need. This programme protected thousands of people and has been widely regarded as amongst the most successful in any developed nation.
Today I have announced the allocations of this latest fund. 274 councils across England will be receiving £91.5 million to provide short term, interim accommodation - including supporting people into the private rented sector and maintaining extended emergency accommodation where needed, for those currently in emergency accommodation. We will continue to work with Local Authorities to allocate the remaining £13.5 million funding to enable them to tackle new or emerging challenges.
As a longer-term step, I announced a separate £161 million fund to deliver 3,300 units of move-on accommodation for rough sleepers by the end of March 2021. We are progressing our assessment of bids for this fund and details of successful bids will be announced in due course. This allocation is part of a broader £433 million funding package which will provide 6,000 homes for rough sleepers over the course of the Parliament, the largest ever investment in accommodation of this kind.
Taken together, this funding will provide immediate reassurance to those housed as part of our ‘Everyone In’ campaign and give longer-term assurance of more move-on accommodation – ensuring as few people as possible return to the streets.
Today’s announcement is on top of the £112 million Rough Sleeping Initiative funding provided to councils earlier this year. We have also provided £3.7 billion to help councils to manage the impacts of COVID-19, including supporting homeless people and a further £3.2 million in emergency funding for local authorities to support vulnerable rough sleepers. This comes as part of a total package of almost £28 billion of support to councils, communities and businesses since March. An additional £23 million will also be provided so that vulnerable individuals experiencing rough sleeping, including those currently in emergency accommodation as a response to COVID-19, can access the specialist help they need for substance dependency issues. This funding, together with our pledge to fully enforce the Homelessness Reduction Act, demonstrates our commitment to making the most of this opportunity to transform the lives of the some of the most vulnerable in society, and to ending rough sleeping for good.
RT HON ROBERT JENRICK MP