Hackney,
18
April
2019
|
14:18
Europe/London

Funding for posts to support Hackney's rough sleepers

Hackney Town Hall

Hackney Council has secured funding for five new posts to support rough sleepers, as part of the Mayor’s manifesto commitment to eliminate rough sleeping.

The Council successfully bid to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government’s Rough Sleeping Initiative Fund for £350,000 to fund a rough sleeping co-ordinator, to oversee all the work the Council and its partners do to support those on the borough’s streets.

It will also fund three outreach workers to engage and work with rough sleepers, supporting them into settled accommodation, and a mental health worker.

All five new roles will work closely with local providers as part of the Hackney Homeless Partnership Board, whose members include the NHS, Citizens Advice Bureau, St Mungos, Shelter, Thamesreach and the Hackney Winter Night Shelter.

 

Cllr Rebecca Rennison, Cabinet Member for Finance and Housing Needs
It’s a testament to the ambition of all those working with rough sleepers in Hackney that our bid was successful, and we’re looking forward to rolling out this project, to help us achieve our vision of cutting rough sleeping to zero.

There’s no need for anyone to sleep rough in Hackney, but the causes of it are incredibly complex. This extra capacity will allow us to provide greater strategic oversight, as well as more of the one on one support that is needed to help people make a real change.

With a growing housing crisis and health services stretched to the limit, this funding will help us fill some of the gap left by government funding cuts to public services.
Cllr Rebecca Rennison, Cabinet Member for Finance and Housing Needs

The latest Rough Sleeper Count in November 2018 recorded 23 rough sleepers in Hackney - up from 18 in 2017. There is a strict criteria around who is counted in the rough sleeper count; people must be bedding down for the night, so it does not count people who are begging but do not sleep rough.

For more information and advice on rough sleeping visit www.hackney.gov.uk/rough-sleeping