Simon Kirby, Member of Parliament for Brighton Kemptown & Peacehaven has welcomed news that Brighton Kemptown & Peacehaven will benefit from a share of the Government’s £50 million Homelessness Prevention Programme.

One person without a home is one too many and that is why the Government has protected £315 million for local authority homelessness prevention funding, and increased funding for central programmes to reduce and prevent homelessness to £149 million over the next four years.

As part of this, the £50 million Homelessness Prevention Programme will provide vital support for people at risk of homelessness, as well as people who have slept rough for a number of years. This includes:

·        a £20 million Rough Sleeping Fund to help new rough sleepers, or people at imminent risk of sleeping rough, get the rapid support they need to recover and move on from a rough sleeping crisis;   

·        £10 million of funding for Social Impact Bonds to provide targeted support for vulnerable, entrenched single homeless people. This will build on the success of the world’s first homelessness Social Impact Bond in London;  

·        £20 million for local authorities to trial new initiatives as Prevention Trailblazers, working with a wider group of at risk people to help families and individuals before they reach crisis point.  

Across all three funds, funding was awarded to 84 projects working across 225 local authorities in England and successful bids locally are as follows:

·        Rough Sleeping Fund – Brighton & Hove to receive £352,345 and Lewes and other local Councils to receive a share of £470,000

·        Social Impact Bonds – Brighton & Hove, East Sussex County Council and Adur to receive a share of £1,000,000

·        Prevention Trailblazers – Brighton & Hove to receive £1,300,000

Simon commented, “ I am delighted that Councils in Brighton Kemptown & Peacehaven have been awarded this funding to help tackle this extremely important issue.”

“Local authorities will be able to use this funding to bring together a range of local partners to provide an innovative approach to tackling homelessness, with prevention at its heart.”

The Government is also investing an additional £100 million to deliver low-cost accommodation for those ready to move on from a homelessness crisis – including rough sleepers leaving hostel accommodation and domestic abuse victims and their families moving on from refuges. Details of the bidding process outside London will be announced by the Homes and Communities Agency in the Spring.