Mayor Dave approves £900,000 for accommodation support for rough sleepers

Bedford Borough Council has been awarded £900,000 to fund the provision of 10 long-term accommodation options for people sleeping rough. This follows another successful bid that funded a project to provide 20 units of emergency accommodation at Roger's Court, which was completed last year. Since 2017 there has been significant progress made by the Council to reduce the number of rough sleepers in the Borough. The latest statistics show that Bedford Borough was recorded as having two rough sleepers.

Mayor Dave Hodgson said "Tackling rough sleeping and homelessness is one of my top priorities and I am glad to say we are having an impact in Bedford Borough. We have already seen the difference that having even just a temporary place to stay can make to people who are sleeping rough, thanks to the fantastic work of the staff at Roger's Court and the Mercure Hotel. This funding will allow us to provide even more accommodation and support and help us to tackle the causes of rough sleeping and homelessness."

Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic the Council have made it a priority to secure emergency accommodation for all persons sleeping rough or at risk of sleeping rough. Since March 2020, the Council have worked with almost 400 individuals and over 60% have moved on to settled accommodation. The remaining people continue to be supported through the Council's temporary accommodation scheme. As a result, the latest national rough sleeping snapshot showed that Bedford Borough had 2 rough sleepers. The measure is based on the number of actual and estimated rough sleepers on a particular night in the same week.

The Council are currently reviewing the Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy and will be consulting on the Strategy later in the year. If you want to help tackle rough sleeping and homelessness, one of the easiest ways in to use the 'tap and donate' machine at IMPAKT in The Arcade in Bedford, each tap of your bank card gives £3 to Bedford Homeless Partnership's Read Change Fund.