Portsmouth City Council is given £4m to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping

The city council has been given £4m by the Department for Levelling Up, taking the total it has received in the last two-and-a-half years to just under £10m.

Cabinet member for housing Darren Sanders said the latest round of funding was a show of faith by the government in the work being done in the city.

'The cost of living crisis means more people may end up on the streets,' he said. 'That is why the council, working with others across the city, has asked for an ambitious package to tackle the causes of homelessness, as well as those affected by it.'

He said the money would be used to employ specialist help for rough sleepers and the homeless and that these people would work in collaboration with health and justice organisations.

'Some of the posts will be based within the hospital and probation services, to make sure that anyone they encounter who is rough sleeping or likely to become homeless gets the initial housing support they need from the council straight away and doesn’t become lost in the system,' he added.

His comments follow the conclusion of a review by the Portsmouth Safeguarding Adults Board into the deaths of four homeless men early in the pandemic which recommends bodies across the city work more closely with each other.

Thirteen recommendations are made in the report which found the men 'struggled to engage with services and services struggled to find ways to engage with them', contributing to their deaths.

'Whilst extraordinary efforts were made to house people safely, the bringing together of homeless people in large groups as part of “Everyone In” also appears to have placed people with significant levels of different needs together,' the report which will be considered by the health and wellbeing board on Wednesday (September 21) says.

'This increased both the risk of harm and demands on services at a time when they faced capacity problems due to the pandemic.'

Eight homeless people died in Portsmouth in 2020. Five died the previous year while two were known to have died in 2021.

The latest round of government funding is made up of £1.6m for two years specifically for the treatment of people affected by drug and alcohol abuse with the remainder spread over the coming three years.

Staff paid for through this will help support rough sleepers into permanent accommodation and to help homeless people leaving prison or those who survived domestic abuse, the council said.

Portsmouth City Rough Sleeping and Homelessness Partnership Group chairwoman Sally McNally said this would help ‘further develop’ services in the city.

‘Portsmouth has shown how by working together, across all statutory, voluntary and private agencies, services to support these vulnerable individuals can be done in a way that meets individual needs,’ she said. ‘The awarding of this funding highlights and recognises the innovative approaches taken by the city, its partners and staff to date in focusing on preventing homelessness and rough sleeping.’