Wiltshire Council secures £312,000 to help homeless

Wiltshire Council has secured more money to help rough sleepers off the streets in the county.

They successfully bid for a central Government grant to tackle homelessness in Wiltshire, and were awarded £312,000.

It will fund extra night shelter spaces, three new outreach workers, a dedicated housing adviser and a project co-ordinator.

The outreach staff will support vulnerable people living on the streets and help them to access services.

They will have skills in helping people with a wide range of needs including financial problems, physical and mental health conditions, as well as drug and alcohol addictions.

The cash will support winter night shelters in Devizes, in partnership with OpenDoors, who already run a day centre for rough sleepers, and in Chippenham, in partnership with the Alabare homeless charity.

Three high support places in a hostel in Salisbury run by Alabare will also be available.

The council hope for more funding in 2019/20.

Wiltshire Council’s cabinet member for housing, Richard Clewer said, “This is excellent news. Rough sleepers are a difficult group to reach out to, and the more support we can get out on the streets the better, and this extra money will help with that.”

Lisa Lewis, who runs the Doorway project, helping the homeless in Chippenham said, “This is a really positive step. It can make a real difference in the lives of people on the streets.

“Having extra support workers is really important in building up relationships with rough sleepers and building trust, and providing more winter shelter spaces is a brilliant idea.”

Cllr Clewer and Lisa Lewis talked about the extra funding with Graham Rogers on BBC Wiltshire on Monday 11th June.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/ programmes/p067vs7b (1:13 into the programme)