York to get £433K to help rough sleepers off the streets and into accommodation

York is to get more than £400,000 to help rough sleepers off the streets and into safer accommodation.

The £433,141 allocation is the city’s share of an extra £112 million of funding from central government announced on Tuesday (29 January).

That is a 30% increase on last year and is to be used for funding more bed spaces and support staff.

Housing secretary Robert Jenrick said: “We are focusing relentlessly on this issue and our efforts have already led to the first nationwide fall in rough sleeping in a decade – and the areas funded by our Rough Sleeping Initiative have seen rough sleeping numbers fall around a third more than they would be without this vital programme, but we need to go further.”

Extra beds

The Rough Sleeping Initiative was launched in 2018 to give local areas the resources to provide vital services for those living on the streets.

Last December City of York Council revealed that the official, annual rough sleeper count in York showed seven people were sleeping on the street in 2019: down from nine in 2018.

In 2017, the official number was 29, in 2016 and 2015 it was 18. Work continues to reduce this number further and help more people off the streets into safer, more stable lives.

Cllr Keith Aspden, leader of the council, said:

• Our homelessness prevention work has secured an extra £400,000 to help rough sleepers with more personalised support and to tackle complex mental health issues.

  The council and its partners have also opened 11 extra emergency beds this year, in order to ensure we can offer rough sleepers a safe place to sleep.
  

Anyone who sees a person sleeping rough can ring Streetlink on 0300 500 0194 who will us to visit the location and offer support. There is more information to help people off the streets on the council’s website.