£3.3M MORE, TO MOVE BRIGHTON'S ROUGH SLEEPERS INTO ACCOMMODATION

Extra government funding, that's risen in the year by £1.2m, is set to increase city council support for people who've been sleeping rough on Brighton and Hove's streets.

The city council this week confirmed it had been awarded just over £3.3 million for 2021/22 from the Rough Sleeping Initiative.

It included £500,000 funding towards the emergency accommodation and support offered to people sleeping rough during the Covid-19 pandemic.

According to the local authority, the funding means that vital services such as the ‘No Second Night Out’ hub can continue while individual support to help vulnerable people maintain their accommodation can be increased.

It also allows the city council to provide around 50 extra units of medium support accommodation in the city.

New services anticipated for Brighton include:

• An ‘Assertive Floating Support’ team, intended to support people rough sleeping or in emergency or supported accommodation move on into longer-term accommodation;
• Emergency accommodation for entrenched rough sleepers, anticipated to include assessment and personalised support to help them move from the streets.

But the council added that its commissioned accommodation for rough sleepers remains available for anyone sleeping rough in the city.

A spokesperson said:

"We’re currently accommodating around 300 people who would otherwise be sleeping rough in the Covid emergency accommodation.

"By 6 June, we had supported more than 500 people to move on from Covid emergency accommodation since the support became available during the first lockdown.

"Most of those have been successfully rehoused in more stable accommodation."

The figure included moving 220 of the people accommodated at the end of September by 31 March 2021, reaching the target set out in the government’s "Next Steps Accommodation Programme" funding.

In the end, the council said its aim is to support those remaining in emergency accommodation to move into long-term sustainable accommodation by 31 October 2021.

However, officials indicated this remains a huge challenge, due to the shortage of suitable accommodation, though they claimed to be exploring "all options to increase the supply".

Additionally, the authority said it had completed the purchase of 30 properties to use as ‘Housing First’ homes with 'wraparound' support.

Further funding has been applied for, through the government’s ‘Rough Sleepers Accommodation Programme’, and a response is expected in the next few weeks.

The application was to fund the purchase of more properties for housing-led support and more 10-year lease properties for rapid rehousing for people with lower support needs.

For preventing homelessness, the authority said it had reintroduced its face-to-face homeless prevention and housing options services to support anyone potentially facing homelessness.

The support the council provides includes action to prevent applicants from becoming homeless, in line with the Homeless Reduction Act 2017, help to retain or secure accommodation, and a personalised housing plan. 

In 2020/2021, the support on offer prevented 598 households from becoming homeless, officials added.

Councillor David Gibson, co-chair of the Housing Committee, said:

“It’s great news that our funding has increased by £1.2m this year. I feel this success is down to our ability to deliver results. 

“The number of people sleeping rough in the city remain low at around a third of pre-pandemic numbers and, for the first time in over a decade, we are not in the top ten worst areas for rough sleeping.

"Staff have worked really hard to bring everyone in and deserve our thanks.

“The money means we can continue vital services such as the ‘No Second Night Out’ hub and expand the individual support in the city to help vulnerable people maintain their accommodation. 

“Funding for new emergency accommodation for entrenched rough sleepers is also a great step forward.

“What we’ve seen over the past year is that this level of support helps us engage with people we’ve struggled to work with before.

"That is having a real impact on helping people to move from a life on the streets. 

“There is still a huge challenge ahead and I am very worried about homelessness now the eviction ban has ended.

"We are focussing on help to prevent homelessness.

“If you’re facing problems with rent arrears, please contact the council so we can do as much as we can to help you avoid becoming homeless. 

“I’d also ask all landlords to avoid evictions and work with the council so we can help avoid people keep up with their rent and avoid the distress of losing their homes.”

Councillor Gill Williams, the opposition lead for housing, added:

“I’m very pleased that we’re able to increase the support on offer for people sleeping rough in the city

“It is a positive move towards our shared priority of ending the need for anyone to sleep rough in the city.”