Northumberland given £70,000 to help house rough sleepers - the smallest grant in the country

In September, the Minister for Rough Sleeping and Housing, Kelly Tolhurst, announced £700,000 to help vulnerable people in the North East who were housed during the pandemic to stay in accommodation. This followed the Everyone In campaign that was launched in March.

RELATED: Empty properties used to house Northumberland's homeless as part of support during the pandemic

Northumberland was the only local authority of the 12 in the region not to receive a share, however, the council explained at the time that its focus was on a different pot of funding.

Cllr John Riddle, the cabinet member for housing, said: “We didn’t apply for this part of the funding. We have instead asked for funding for a tenancy support worker to work with long-term rough sleepers and to fund the refurbishment and furnishing of properties to accommodate them.

“We have requested £36,000 to carry out the works on the properties and £31,000 every year for the next three years to pay for the tenancy support worker.”

This week, Ms Tolhurst announced that more than 90 new long-term homes for rough sleepers across the North East have been approved, backed by Government investment of more than £150million.

These will be available by the end of March 2021 and are part of the Government’s investment of £433million to deliver 6,000 new homes for rough sleepers by the end of this Parliament.

The £150million is being divided between 276 schemes which have been approved across England, including 38 in London, with Northumberland receiving the lowest amount – £70,500 – to provide the secure ‘move-on’ accommodation and support.

Council leader Glen Sanderson said: “We’re fortunate in Northumberland to have relatively low numbers of homelessness and rough sleeping.

“However, our Government made a clear commitment at the last election to completely end rough sleeping by the end of this parliament and if we are to succeed in this aim, it is vital for the Government and local authorities to work together.

“The Everyone In campaign has protected thousands of lives. Providing people with somewhere they can call home is the first, vital step towards allowing them to make positive changes to all other aspects of their lives.”

The dramatic events of 2020 are having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers and consequently the advertising that we receive. We are now more reliant than ever on you helping us to provide you with news by buying a copy of our newspaper. If you can, please do pick up a copy when you are at the shops. Thank you for your support.