Maria Caulfield, Member of Parliament for Lewes, has welcomed the announcement that Lewes District Council and Wealden District Council are receiving additional funds for their homeless prevention schemes.
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has announced that councils in England will receive an additional £109 million in 2024/25 via a top up to the Homelessness Prevention Grant. This funding can be used flexibly – for example, to offer financial support for people to find a new home or to work with landlords to prevent evictions, among other preventative measures, or to provide temporary accommodation.
This funding forms part of the £120 million UK-wide funding announced at Autumn Statement 2023 to help councils address homelessness pressures and support Ukrainian guests who can no longer remain in sponsorship in 2024/25.
Lewes District Council is set to receive £232,214 in additional funding for 2024/25 with Wealden District Council receiving £403,670. Combined with the existing funding announced for the year it brings the total funding for homeless prevention in the districts to £774,194 and £969,890 respectively.
Commenting on the announcement, Maria Caulfield MP said:
“I am very pleased that the government is delivering this additional funding to help our local councils to prevent homelessness, prevention needs to be the top priority to ensure that people do not fall into homelessness or rough sleeping in the first place. I hope that this additional funding will go someway to help the situation”.