£202k rough sleeping prevention programme launched in East Lindsey

East Lindsey District Council have been awarded the funding to further enhance their approach and impact in the prevention of rough sleeping in the district.

The funding comes on the back of an initiative in 2019 which helped in the creation of a Rough Sleeping Prevention Team within the District Council which, since June 2019, have received 259 referrals with 112 of those being directly supported into a new way of life off the streets.

Whilst others were supported in a systematic way with individual action plans to find them suitable accommodation and support through a network of agencies or reconnected to their local area.

There was a significant reduction in rough sleeping in 2019 following the hard work of the team with a 55% reduction based on the annual snapshot of a typical night per year. In fact, in recent months, there has been no evidence that anyone is sleeping rough in East Lindsey due to the team responding much more quickly and effectively.

The programme has already helped to build capacity to deliver a range of interventions, resulting in a firm understanding of homelessness in East Lindsey and the ability to respond appropriately and collaboratively to people who find themselves sleeping rough by working with partners such as P3,Lincolnshire Police, Salvation Army, Church based organisations as well as local voluntary organisations. Alongside this, the Council has taken other proactive steps to improve the housing pathway in the district through a review of its housing allocations policy and by bringing the housing register function back in house.

The funding for 2020/2021 will allow the Council to boost capacity to respond to homelessness, allow a more flexible deployment of staff particularly to respond to projected seasonal increases in demand and enable a greater focus on prevention. Appropriate short term accommodation options will be developed, allowing for swift accommodation access, assessment, intervention and resettlement or where more appropriate, sustainable reconnection.

A flexible personalised budget option will also be offered and tailored to each individuals needs to ensure they receive the right level of support.

Portfolio Holder for Housing and Communities, Councillor Wendy Bowkett said: “We have demonstrated that the Council, through the Rough Sleeping Prevention Team, is willing and able to mobilise and work quickly and that we are genuinely committed to ending rough sleeping. This new round of funding will certainly have even more of an impact on the service the team is able to offer in collaboration with our partners.”

For more information, visit www.e-lindsey.gov.uk/roughsleepers

If you see someone sleeping rough, please inform either P3 Street Outreach Team on 0808 2810280 or by email [email protected] or ELDC on 01507 601111 – email [email protected]

If you see someone sleeping rough out of hours, please call 01507 601111 and a Duty Officer will help you.

* See our special feature on homelessness in Wednesday's Skegness Standard