Funding bid to help Preston's rough sleepers

Council bosses are waiting on a bid for vital funding that could ease Preston's rough sleeping problems.
The funding is to help rough sleepers off the streets of PrestonThe funding is to help rough sleepers off the streets of Preston
The funding is to help rough sleepers off the streets of Preston

The town hall has submitted an application for more than £400k from central government and will find out whether it has been successful later this month.

Council bosses meet next week to discuss the bid which will be worth £204,130 for this year and £213,650 for 2019/20.

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Earlier this year the town hall approved plans to transfer funds to the Foxton for the first in its history as it was facing a funding shortfall in between lottery funding bids.

Amid pressure placed on Westminster about the amount of rough sleepers across the UK, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) announced a £30m fund was being made available.

If successful in its bid, Preston City Council working alongside the Foxton Centre must show “real reductions” in the numbers of rough sleepers in the city, according to a council report.

Extra support workers, an extension to the Foxton’s existing outreach programme and incentives to landlords “to hold accommodation empty for quick access for people directly coming in off the streets” are part of the plans. A spokesman for the Foxton Centre said they are unable to comment until the outcome of the funding bid is known.

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A report, set to go before ruling cabinet members on Wednesday, reads: “The council must be able to demonstrate the ability to make a ‘quick impact’ to reduce rough sleeping otherwise it may be obliged to return some of the funding.”