Ben Everitt MP has welcomed the news Milton Keynes has been awarded £270,958 as part of the Conservative Government's Rough Sleeping Drug & Alcohol Treatment Grant.
The support will help rough sleepers off the streets at a time of year when they face falling temperatures and give them an opportunity to turn their lives around by ending the cycle of addiction.
Building on the success of the Everyone In initiative, which supported 37,000 vulnerable people into longer term accommodation during the pandemic, this support will continue to help rough sleepers off the streets.
Rough sleeping has already reduced by over a third but the Government will go even further with £640 million invested each year over the next three years to tackle the issue – a 85% increase in funding compared to 2019.
This builds on the £202 million for councils to continue to help people off the streets, funding 14,500 bed spaces for rough sleepers and 2,700 specialist support staff. This is on top of £112 million invested last year. Those at risk of eviction are also being helped through the £310 million Homelessness Prevention Grant, with councils providing financial support or helping households find new homes. A £16 million pilot is also helping end the cycle of homelessness and hospital admissions by providing temporary accommodation, care and support for rough sleepers leaving hospital.
Ben Everitt, the MP for Milton Keynes North, said: *This Government is determined to end rough sleeping by the end of this Parliament and I'm pleased Milton Keynes is receiving more funding to help us do that.
"I only recently visited the YMCA in MK with Housing Minister Christopher Pincher to see the fantastic work they do and it shows just how vital it is to ensure vulnerable people and rough sleepers get the support they need to get their lives back on track."
Minister for Rough Sleeping and Housing, Eddie Hughes MP added: "Rough sleepers are some of the most vulnerable people in our society and we must help them off the streets and end the plight of rough sleeping once and for all.
“That means providing somewhere safe and warm for them to stay, and this funding will be a lifeline for thousands as the temperature drops this winter.
“We are also helping those trapped in drug and alcohol addiction and giving them the stability they need to turn their lives around.”
