Croydon will receive nearly £1.3 million from the Government as part of its Homelessness Reduction Act.
This funding is part of a wider £72.7 million that is being distributed to targeted local authorities. The Government has allocated a total of £950 million until 2020 in order to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping.
The £1,292,339 investment in Croydon is the 6th highest in the London.
In 2016, the Homelessness charity Shelter ranked Croydon as having the 13th highest number of people sleeping rough, estimating that over 50 people are sleeping rough in the Borough. However estimates on rough sleepers are notoriously difficult to establish.
The Government has pledged to halve rough sleeping by 2022 and to eliminate it altogether by 2027.
One person forced to sleep rough is too many and the Government is absolutely right to allocate this money in tackling the problem.
Croydon in particular stands to benefit, receiving the 6th highest level of funding in London.
The Government is looking to end rough sleeping by tackling the causes of homelessness and to invest in greater support for those who find themselves without a home.
I welcome this investment as something that will have a huge, positive impact on the lives those people forced to sleep rough.
