Government announces £105m for interim support
The government has announced £105m (£85m of which is new money from HM Treasury) to provide interim support for the 15,000 people accommodated during the pandemic. This follows the announcement last month to provide 6,000 units of accommodation, 3,300 of which will be delivered in the next 12 months.
The money will be used to support people into tenancies of their own, including help with rent deposits and securing alternative accommodation. A further £16 million is being provided for substance misuse services and the statement also mentions health and mental health support.
Oliver Hilbery, Director of the MEAM coalition, said:
“We welcome this new funding from government to provide interim support for people accommodated during the pandemic. We hope that it will be available for everyone in emergency accommodation who needs it and for those not currently accommodated.
As well as appropriate housing, it will be vital that people are able to access the wider, personalised support they need to thrive and to sustain their accommodation.
Last month, MEAM published new ‘rapid research’ showing the flexibilities that homelessness, substance misuse, mental health and community-based criminal justice services have put in place during the pandemic to ensure that people get the help they need.
The challenge now for the homelessness taskforce and for local areas is to ensure that these flexible responses are maintained. That will require a cross-sector approach to transition planning across government and in every local area.
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