Government pledges further funding to tackle homelessness
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'Homelessness prevention in Newcastle upon Tyne' is a Gold Winners of the World Habitat Awards 2020
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Mayor activates SWEP to protect homeless Londoners
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Posted 21.12.20
GOV.UK: Further reading
Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick has announced councils will receive additional government support to prevent vulnerable people becoming homeless.
£310 million will?be targeted at areas with high numbers of homeless people, those at risk of homelessness, or those living in temporary accommodation.
The funding represents a £47 million increase on this year and can be used to offer financial support for people to find a new home, to work with landlords to prevent evictions, or to provide temporary accommodation to ensure families have a roof over their head.
The funding is part of overall investment of more than £750 million to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping in 2021.
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Posted 07.12.20
Mayor of London: Further reading
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has activated the pan-London Severe Weather Emergency Protocols (SWEP) for the first time this winter to protect homeless people as temperatures are forecast to fall below zero across London.
The activation of SWEP compels councils across London (in association with homelessness charities) to open emergency accommodation for people who are sleeping rough during the worst weather conditions.
The pandemic has made the provision of SWEP more difficult as it had previously relied on communal sleeping arrangements. Because of the increased risk of Covid transmission in these settings, only self-contained accommodation such as hotel rooms be used for SWEP provision this year.
Shared sleeping spaces should be considered by local authorities only as a last resort, when all options to provide self-contained rooms have been exhausted.
All London councils have also committed to implementing the 'In for Good' principle - meaning that once someone has accessed SWEP shelter, they are accommodated until a support plan is in place to end their rough sleeping.
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Posted 03.12.20
World Habitat: Further reading
A ground-breaking partnership to prevent homelessness in Newcastle Upon Tyne is one of the two Gold Winners of this year's World Habitat Awards.
'Homelessness prevention in Newcastle upon Tyne', the partnership approach of Newcastle City Council, has prevented over 24,000 households from becoming homeless since 2014.
Poverty and deprivation were already long-standing issues in the City before a decade-long programme of austerity reduced municipal budgets by almost a third and welfare spending was severely cut.
However, more than 100 local organisations have worked together to prevent homelessness and promote financial inclusion.
This involves addressing issues that can contribute to homelessness, such as debt and access to welfare support - to increase residents' income and reduce their expenditure where possible.
The programme has maintained extremely low and stable levels of homelessness in the City, in spite of a challenging background nationally.
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Updated 31.12.20
Homeless Link: New research reveals scale of expansion of Housing First
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Resonance: 'Let Us', the Greater Manchester Ethical Lettings Agency, is partnering with Resonance to deliver a substantial volume of housing for people who really need a place to call home (see also our report this month in Housing Finance)
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Homeless Link: The six winners of Homeless Link's Excellence Awards 2020, which pay tribute to the best of the homelessness and supported housing sector, were announced at an online celebratory event on the evening of 10 December.
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