City expects share of £432m to tackle homelessness

Peterborough is to get a share of a new government pot to help it tackle homelessness and rough sleeping.

Last month, the city was granted more than £500,000 to address the issues, and the government recently announced it would invest a further £432m nationwide as part of its plan to offer "everyone sleeping rough... a route off the street or wider support before Christmas".

Peterborough City Council said it was unable to keep pace with demand for housing support and published a strategy aimed at halving long-term rough sleeping by 2029.

Its homelessness and rough sleeping strategy was due to be debated at a cabinet meeting on Tuesday.

It is not yet known how much of the latest tranche of funding will be allocated to the city council, but it is expected to be roughly the same amount as the recent grant.

In Peterborough, nearly 9.2 people per 1,000 are homeless, compared with 7.5 across England.

The city's Labour MP, Andrew Pakes, attended a national rough sleepers summit hosted by the prime minister on Monday.

He said addressing the issues "isn't just about the money".

"We've got some really good voluntary sector, some churches, some faith organisations. It is about giving a bit of confidence to them that they've got the support and money from government.

"They now just need to work together to make sure we're delivering it locally."

Matt Oliver, head of housing needs at Peterborough City Council, said its proposed new strategy focused on "key issues such as prevention and early intervention".

"The prime minister's got an ambitious goal - we want to meet that challenge," he said.

Asked what would be different now, Oliver said: "Well, the money always helps doesn't it, and we welcome the announcement [on Monday] around additional funding.

"We were always going to be working... to think more innovatively about what we could do in the next few years to make that change."

He said staff were looking at different accommodation models, as well as support for mental health and other issues.

"The difference is making sure we focus that around these people that may not have had that all in one place at the same time."

He added: "We've been asked to give an offer of support and a route off the street for everyone.

"We're clear that we want to meet that objective and have that offer of support - people also have a choice whether to accept that support or not, and we need to work with them on that."

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