£3m to Help Tackle Rising Rough Sleeping
11 Sep 2012 12:48 PM
Homelessness Transition Fund offers grants to help communities hit by rising rough sleeping numbers.
From yesterday , homeless charities across England will be able to apply for grants of up £200k to invest in new ways of preventing and tackling rough sleeping.
With the number of people sleeping out on any one night estimated to have increased by 23% last year, priority will be given to areas that are experiencing high levels of homelessness and want to adopt No Second Night Out.
No Second Night Out is an initiative that involves putting the services in place to ensure that new rough sleepers get rapid help so they don’t spend a second night out. The idea, pioneered in London, has already spread to 30 areas thanks to funding from the £20m Homelessness Transition Fund.
The Fund has also announced that in September it will launch the ‘Future Ready’ fund. Under the scheme, homelessness services that are at risk of closure will be able to apply for grants of between £5k - £25k to help them find ways of securing their futures.
Commenting, Sharon Allen, Chair of the Fund’s Grants Panel said:
“With last week’s Government figures showing that homelessness continues to rise, it’s more important than ever that we prevent people from ending up on our streets.
“We want to help communities that have been hardest hit by homelessness. If you’re a charity which has a new idea when it comes to tackling rough sleeping or you want to join the growing number of areas to adopt No Second Night Out, we want to hear from you.”
The independent Homelessness Transition Fund was set up in 2011 to help support the Government’s rough sleeping strategy ‘Vision to end rough sleeping: No Second Night Out nationwide’.
Administered by Homeless Link, the umbrella body for homelessness charities, and supported by the Department for Communities and Local Government, the Fund has given out 62 grants worth £11.6m since it first launched in 2011.
Applications for grants of up to £200k need to be made by 12th October 2012. A series of briefings will be held for charities interested in making an application.
To find out more, visit www.homeless.org.uk/fund