Huge boost to Tackle Hastings Homelessness
Local homelessness charity Seaview has been awarded a £200k funding boost to support their vital work in getting people off the streets. The funding, from the government’s £8.4 million Ending Homelessness in Communities Fund, will help ensure that everyone sleeping rough in Hastings will be offered a route off the streets this winter if they need it.
Hastings Borough Council will also receive £2 million to help address local homelessness and to offer practical help with housing, health and other needs. Under a £442 million total package, areas like Hastings will get the largest share of support as part of Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s drive to get people out of the cold this winter and to give people facing long-term homelessness a settled home and the support to keep it.
Helena Dollimore MP welcomed the bold initiative, saying: “Our area is at the sharp end of the housing crisis. I have long campaigned for funding to support local people to leave the streets behind, move into secure homes and get the support they need to rebuild their lives. The Labour Government has already strengthened rights for renters, including ending no-fault evictions which were a huge driver of homelessness in our area.
“We have also boosted our support for the East Sussex Veterans’ Hub who do fantastic work supporting our former service men and women find housing. It is great that a portion of this funding will go towards supporting local organisation Seaview who do hugely important work tackling homelessness in Hastings.”
As well as off the street provision, the funding will help local areas deliver more than 1,000 settled homes over the next three years, alongside intensive wraparound support to help people rebuild their lives. Areas facing the greatest pressures, like Hastings, will receive the largest share of support.
Alongside funding allocations, the Government is publishing guidance to help local areas mobilise quickly and deliver a consistent route off the street this winter. The guidance will make clear the need to ensure adequate and accessible provision for women experiencing rough sleeping, recognising that women are often underrepresented in official statistics and may be at greater risk of violence, abuse, and exploitation.
Guidance encourages local areas to consider single-sex accommodation with specialist, intensive and trauma informed support for victims of domestic abuse and sexual violence. This will support the government’s commitment to halve violence against women and girls in the next ten years.
Charities, faith groups and community organisations are at the heart of efforts to end homelessness. This is why, in addition to holding a first of its kind national summit bringing together leaders across society with a role to play, the government is specifically allocating £8.4 million of the new funding to the Ending Homelessness in Communities Fund.
This takes total funding allocations for 100 different projects to £47 million over three years, helping small and medium-sized organisations provide life-changing support to people experiencing, or at risk of, homelessness.
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