County-wide homeless prevention strategy launched

Herefordshire Council has launched a five-year county-wide plan to prevent homelessness.

A statement by the council confirmed more than £5.4m additional funding had been secured from central government for the plan, to be invested in more accommodation, new services and support.

The plan sets out five key principles, and a set of 42 actions with goals to prevent homelessness happening and end rough sleeping.

Councillor Carole Gandy said: "Any person or family who is homeless is one too many and means people are facing a very difficult situation. We've made this a priority - and we've made strong progress."

She added: "People rightly want to see what's changing on the ground.

"Over the next five years we will deliver a raft of improvements including new and better quality accommodation, a stronger inclusive health and trauma‑informed approach, and further equipping our staff and communities across the county to help people who need us most."

Key new developments to be rolled out over the next five years include:

• Researching options for new emergency winter accommodation
• Increased multi-agency working
• Formal training for all relevant council and partner staff
• Reduced use of bed and breakfast accommodation
• Developing a new toolkit, tailored for each of the county's towns, which help anyone to identify people at risk
• Develop new accommodation units for prison leavers, so no-one leaves prison to go straight onto the streets
• Bringing partners and people with experience of homelessness together
• Providing specialist support within 24 hours for people with chronic mental health, addictions and other support needs
• Joint working with the NHS to identify people with no accommodation arranged prior to discharge

Christine Price, chairwoman of the Herefordshire Homelessness Forum, said: "This strategy is a positive step forward, particularly in its focus on early intervention, trauma-informed support and partnership working."

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