The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, today launched a £30m fund to help both improve hostel services for homeless people and deliver new accommodation targeting young adults facing homelessness who may not be able to maintain employment or education. The funding is available now for boroughs, housing providers and voluntary sector organisations to apply for and should help hundreds of the capital’s most vulnerable people live independently.
The funding is set to help deliver new hostels and refurbish some of those in the poorest condition. Research has shown that early interventions with teenagers facing homelessness results in them being far less likely to end up on the streets in the later life. As such, funding will also be aimed at delivering new accommodation for younger people who cannot live with their families and help them complete further education courses or apprenticeships.
The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, said: "This new funding is designed to help prevent young people from ever sleeping rough and to ensure hostels are fully equipped and of a good standard for everyone who needs them. Offering young people extra support so they stay in education and on the right track is essential. Nobody should have to call the streets their home, and while we are proud of the decline in entrenched rough sleeping, more needs to be done to stem the flow of people facing homelessness and maintain services needed by some of our most vulnerable Londoners. "
The new fund for London is made up of £15m from the Department of Health and £15 million from the Greater London Authority and is part of wider central government national scheme to tackle homelessness. The Mayor already invests around £9 million a year on a range of key commissioned services from the first Social Impact Bond to the Mayor’s flagship No Second Night Out programme, which ensures a rapid response and has meant 3 out of 4 new rough sleepers now spend only one night on the street. The Mayor’s Rough Sleeping group leads and co-ordinates wide-ranging work in partnership with boroughs, Government, the voluntary sector and other agencies.
Notes to editors
1, To apply for the funding please visit http://www.london.gov.uk/priorities/housing-land/increasing-housing-supply/homelessness-change-and-platform-for-life
Homelessness Change is about either building new hostels or refurbishing existing hostels. These hostels are used to house people who would otherwise be homeless (or at risk of homelessness) and living on the street.
Platform For Life is a new form of accommodation that is aimed at younger adults who are in Education/training and or employment. The concept is to provide people who would otherwise be homeless a home where they can maintain their employment, education, and training. The aim is for this accommodation to be short term ( up to 2 years) and they will be supported to move on into independent living.
2, DoH are making available £15m of funding for London (they are also making £25m available for a programme to be offered by HCA for outside London). The Mayor is providing a further £15m of funding in London to match the DoH funding . The total level of funding for this programme in London is £30m
3, The new funding (of £30m) brings the investment in hostel provision to more than £40m and this complements the £39m of revenue funded services already made available by the Mayor
4, The programme in London will be for 3 years ending in March 2018. Organisations who gain an allocation will need to be Registered providers of Affordable housing (Housing Associations) but non registered organisations can bid but grant won’t be paid until they achieve registered status.