| 21/51 | ACCEPTANCE OF FUNDING FOR ROUGH SLEEPING INITIATIVE FROM THE MINISTRY OF HOUSING, COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT FOR JULY 2021 TO MARCH 2022 | ACCEPTANCE OF FUNDING FOR ROUGH SLEEPING INITIATIVE FROM THE MINISTRY OF HOUSING, COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT FOR JULY 2021 TO MARCH 2022
The Head of Housing presented a summary of the report. The Officer stated that the Council wished to accept £289,632 of Rough Sleeper Initiative Funding from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. The funding was to continue to deliver a specialist housing led initiative for medium high needs rough sleepers and homeless service users for the period of July 2021 to the end of March 2022.
In the previous year the Council successfully bid for over £300,000 of funding to establish the project. The Officer advised that the Mansfield Frist Steps Project was the first of its kind in Nottinghamshire.
The Council had already received an initial amount of £102,657 funding to continue running the project between April and June 2021.
The Officer stated that Mansfield have the highest number of rough sleepers in the county excluding the city. The official snapshot taken in November 2019 figure for roughsleepers was 22.
The First Steps Project had been very successful in reducing the number of rough sleepers in Mansfield. There were 10 rough sleepers currently in the project and there was capacity for a further 34 bed spaces within the Council’s partners Action Housing and the YMCA. The Official 2020 rough sleeper count was reduced to 7. The weekly count had been reduced to 3.
The acceptance of the funding would allow the continuation of the project with the ability to have the provision of specialist roles to support the vulnerable
The Council had recently commissioned an independent evaluation of the First Steps Project by Nottingham Trent University. The evaluation was built on previous evaluations in the early stages.
The report concluded taking into account the unprecedented circumstances and unique challenges that had fundamentally affected First Steps such as Pandemic that thee First Steps Project was a positive contribution to the housing homelessness strategies within Nottinghamshire.
That First Steps provided a holistic approach for its clients. That the continuation of the First Steps Project would continue to reduce the homeless within the Town Centre.
This would help to reduce street begging, anti-social behaviour, substance abuse and a reduction in the supply of drugs.
This would also result in a cost saving in services that include the Criminal Justice service and emergency health care. Importantly it would result in an improvement in the health and wellbeing for some of Mansfield’s most vulnerable residents.
The Head of Housing extended her thanks to some of the partners that had made a significant contribution to the success of the First Steps Project that included the Housing and Communities Safety Teams Housing, Framework, Outreach YMCA and Nottingham Police.
The Portfolio Holder for Corporate and Finance stated that it was great to hear that the numbers of homelessness had been reduced by over 70% from 2019 -2020 and even higher on the weekly counts. It was clear that the Housing First approach had worked very well and that he was looking forward to seeing the future results.
The Portfolio Holder for Corporate and Finance was happy to accept the recommendations for Council
The accepted recommendations were:
The Portfolio Holder for Corporate and Finance recommendation to Council be:
(i) That the Council accepts the relevant funding for Rough Sleeping Initiative, MHCLG to be able to fund the housing led project.
(ii) That the 2021/2022 General Fund revenue budgets be amended accordingly.
The Portfolio Holder for Corporate and Finance recommendation to Council be:
(i) That the Council accepts the relevant funding for Rough Sleeping Initiative, MHCLG to be able to fund the housing led project.
(ii) That the 2021/2022 General Fund revenue budgets be amended accordingly.
Report of the Head of Housing
Decision Notice | The Portfolio Holder for Corporate and Finance recommendation to Council be:
(i) That the Council accepts the relevant funding for Rough Sleeping Initiative, MHCLG to be able to fund the housing led project.
(ii) That the 2021/2022 General Fund revenue budgets be amended accordingly.
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