On 21st December, the Government announced £315.8 million in funding through the Homelessness Prevention Grant that will be made available to local authorities in 2022/23 to support them to deliver services to prevent and tackle homelessness.
As part of this funding announcement, Milton Keynes will receive £1,990,412 through the Homelessness Prevention Grant and £32,702 through the Domestic Abuse new burdens
The Government has made excellent progress on its commitment to end rough sleeping, with rough sleeping levels falling 37% between 2019 and 2020. Nonetheless, the Spending Review committed a further £2 billion to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping over the next three years to build on this progress.
The Homelessness Prevention Grant funding builds on the £310 million provided to local authorities in 2021/22. It maintains that investment with an additional £5.8 million of funding to support local authorities to increase support for homeless domestic abuse victims following the landmark Domestic Abuse Act 2021.
The ringfenced grant will be provided upfront and can be used flexibly by councils to deliver their homelessness and rough sleeping strategies - for example, by offering financial support for people to find a new home, providing temporary accommodation, working with landlords to prevent evictions or other measures to prevent homelessness. This will support local authorities to enforce fully the Homelessness Reduction Act and prevent more people from becoming homeless or sleeping rough.
Commenting, Iain Stewart MP said:
“The £2m of funding for Milton Keynes underlines the Government’s commitment to preventing homelessness and ending rough sleeping for good.
“I am hopeful that the local authority will utilise this funding, from the Conservative Government, to help those who are vulnerable or are in need.”
This builds on more than £800 million of Government investment to tackle rough sleeping and homelessness in 2021/22, making sure that local authorities are resourced to manage homelessness pressures and to take action to prevent homelessness from occurring.