Steve Double, Member of Parliament for St Austell and Newquay has welcomed the news that the Government is providing more than £600,000 of funding from the Rough Sleeping Initiative fund to Cornwall.
Commenting Steve said:
“I am pleased to see £625,009 of additional Rough Sleeping Initiative funding provided to Cornwall Council by the Government.”
“In December Cornwall Council confirmed the number of rough sleepers in Cornwall has nearly halved over the past two years. This additional funding is important as despite this good news, just one rough sleeper is one too many.”
“I look forward to seeing this money made available in Cornwall and deployed to ensure Cornwall Council can continue its work helping these people when they are most vulnerable.”
Nationally this funding will provide for over 750 new staff focused on rough sleeping. This will include more outreach workers to engage with people on the streets, specialist mental health and substance misuse workers and dedicated co-ordinators to drive efforts to reduce rough sleeping in their areas. It will also provide for over 2,650 new bed spaces including both emergency, temporary and settled accommodation.
The Rough Sleeping Initiative Team, made up of expert Advisers with knowledge and experience in areas such as mental health, specialist housing, substance misuse and criminal justice will continue to work closely with local areas to implement the plans and to monitor their progress.
