Stuart has welcomed news that people at risk of rough sleeping and homelessness will be able to access extra support in Leeds after the Government announced £560,903 in additional funding as part of a wider plan to end rough sleeping for good by 2024.

Leeds is one of forty-three areas across England that will share an additional £23 million to pay for drug and alcohol misuse services targeted at vulnerable people at risk of rough sleeping in 2020-21. From April next year, funding for the programme will more than double to £52 million for 2021-22 with future allocations to be announced at a later date.

Thousands of rough sleepers who are being provided with emergency accommodation during the pandemic as part of the Government’s ‘Everyone In’ programme, and people who are currently rough sleeping, will be eligible for the support. The funding will pay for them to access drug and alcohol treatment, including detox and rehabilitation support, and to access mental health and substance dependence workers who can help them get their life back on track.

Taken together, government spending on rough sleeping and homelessness this year is over £700 million, with the ‘Everyone In’ campaign helping to protect thousands of lives during the pandemic by housing rough sleepers in safe accommodation.

Stuart said: “Throughout the pandemic, I have been very pleased to see thousands of rough sleepers and people at risk of homelessness supported by the Government, keeping them off the streets and protected from COVID-19.

This additional funding is hugely welcome, and means we can go further and do important work to tackle the cycle of alcohol and substance misuse that, sadly, is often a contributing factor in why people end up on the streets both in Leeds and other communities across the country.

It is important that we take this unique opportunity arising from the pandemic to press on with the commitment to ending homelessness and rough sleeping completely by 2024.”