Bristol Receives Government Funding to Tackle Homelessness in the City
Homeless Bristol Funding:
If you live or work in central Bristol, you won’t fail to have noticed the city is at crisis point with street sleepers.
Just this week, Bristol City Council has been taking eviction action against a tent city in the Riverside St Jude’s area after complaints about rubbish and human waste. That’s right. The council has been evicting homeless people living in tents, moving them on.
Now, Bristol has received nearly £600,000 to improve front line support to rough sleepers and those at risk of becoming so. The city will also benefit from support from the government’s Rough Sleeping Initiative Team, which provides expert information about implementing effective support.
Current proposals for the cash might see an additional winter night shelter open 24 hours a day, offering basic accommodation, food provision and access to support services.
Other proposals include specialist move on teams to work with pathway clients, helping them move into longer term accommodation. Specialist psychological support for ‘high needs’ clients is also being touted, expanding current housing programmes and working with prison leavers.
The city is one of 83 which has been allocated a share of £30m to improve immediate support and front line services for street sleepers. The money was allocated to councils with the highest numbers of people sleeping on the streets.
The final decision on how to spend the funding will be reached at Cabinet on 03 July 2018.
Councillor Paul Smith, Cabinet Member for Housing, said: “There has been a significant rise in rough sleeping in Bristol and across the country in recent years, and we remain committed to doing everything we can to reverse that trend.
“We are already running a number of initiatives to reduce rough sleeping and wider homelessness in the city, but additional resources are needed to make a significant reduction in the number of people forced to live on the streets.
“Bristol lacks suitable day centre access, so we are particularly keen to provide a new shelter where people can access support and other facilities during the hours traditional shelters are closed.”
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