Warwickshire County Council to invest £300,000 to tackle homelessness

Warwickshire County Council has announced that it will be investing £300,000 to help tackle homelessness in the county.
The council will be investing £300,000 into tackling homelessness.The council will be investing £300,000 into tackling homelessness.
The council will be investing £300,000 into tackling homelessness.

The two-year programme will focus on those with mental health, drugs and/or alcohol problems.

The council will work with district and borough councils, Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs), Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership Trust, Warwickshire Police and third sector organisations to determine an approach to support the homeless.

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During the last rough sleeper count, Warwickshire was estimated to have 49 rough sleepers, the majority of them, being in the south of the county.

This is an estimated increase of 20 per cent from 2016 according to figures from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government Rough Sleeping Statistics from Autumn 2017.

A spokesperson from Warwickshire County Council said: “This is only part of the picture. We also know that there are a proportion of people who have become homeless, but do not show up yet in official figures, sometimes known as ‘hidden homeless’.

“There are also individuals/households who are classed as statutory homeless, whereby they no longer have a legal right to occupy their accommodation or if it would no longer be reasonable to continue to live there.”

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Councillor Les Caborn, portfolio holder for adult social care and health, said “Warwickshire County Council is delighted to fund this work, it will directly feed into the objectives of the Warwickshire Cares Better Together Programme, in particular the housing theme, by using an integrated approach to support vulnerable people.

“Homelessness also features in the 2017 Director of Public Health Annual Report, Valuing the Vulnerable, highlighting that homeless people die on average 30 years before the general population.

“We need to come together as statutory partners to find a joint solution to this challenge and this funding will strengthen our ability to do that”.