On 28/05/2023, Lucie Heath, a correspondent at The I Newspaper, published a story focusing on the worrying trend of county council's de-commissioning homelessness funding in a bid to cut expenditure.
Homeless Link worked with Lucie on the story, connecting her with a number of member organisations affected, including; BCHA, Porchlight and Alabare.
Responding to the issue, Homeless Link's CEO Rick Henderson said:
“Prolonged inflation and historic under-funding mean local authorities are facing huge pressures to find savings in their budgets. This is an extremely difficult situation for councils, but cutting homelessness funding is a dangerous and short-sighted decision that will almost certainly lead to a significant rise in rough sleeping, as well as placing extra strain on health and emergency services.
“Rough sleeping rose by 26% in 2022, the biggest year on year rise since 2015, with homelessness services across the country reporting increasing need for their services as a result. It could be a young person who’s recently left the care system, a woman who has fled an abusive partner or someone who simply couldn’t keep up with rising rents. Cutting homelessness funding will mean these people don’t have safe and trusted providers of accommodation and support to turn to, while those already housed by services may face the trauma of eviction with nowhere left to turn but the streets.”
