Death of the high street: Why can t Dover afford a Big Issue seller? bigissue.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from bigissue.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Published:
6:30 AM June 1, 2021
Councils are set being given thousands of pounds each to help tackle rough sleeping
- Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto Fewer people are on the streets but there are many in hostels - that is the stark warning as £2.8million was given to Suffolk and north Essex councils to fight rough sleeping.
Nationally, the government has awarded councils £203million as part of its Rough Sleeper Initiative to help reduce the number of people on the streets.
That is an 81% increase on the £112m given last year, with councils like Colchester this year being awarded £385,572 and East Suffolk getting £878,088.
Share
The UK government’s recent annual rough sleeping snapshot showing that rough sleeping has fallen 43% in England since 2018 was welcome news for Dr Nick Maguire, Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Southampton.
The data published by the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (MHCLG) showed a reduction from 4,677 people sleeping rough in 2018 compared with 2,688 people estimated to be sleeping rough in autumn 2020 when the figures were captured.
Further data published shows a continued downward trend in rough sleeping numbers over the winter – with the total number of people recorded as sleeping rough across the whole of England falling to 1,461 at the end of January. Housing Secretary, Robert Jenrick, attributes the fall to added government funding made through the ‘Everyone In’ project which launched at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic which he says has now supported 37,000 people into secure accommodation with more than 26,000 m