New York-style scheme to help homeless expanded

The Housing First scheme aims to tackle long-term homelessness

A "pioneering" scheme to support those sleeping rough on the streets of Bradford is being extended after the council said it had reduced homelessness in the district.

The Housing First initiative was originally piloted in the city in 2018 using a model developed in New York back in the 1990s.

Rather than offering people hostel accommodation as a temporary fix, they are instead given their own home and tenancy to help them take back control of their lives.

Bradford Council said it would expand the project over the next three years to offer up to 40 individuals help and support, up from the current 30.

Councillor Alex Ross-Shaw, portfolio holder for regeneration, transport and planning, said: "We can say with certainty and with pride that in pioneering the Housing First approach we have reduced rough sleeping and repeat homelessness in the Bradford district.

"We are delighted to be able to extend the service which offers the most vulnerable people with the most complex of needs intensive, tailored and wraparound support which emphasises control and choice."

An illegal tented village was set up in the railway arches near Bradford Forster Square Station before metal gates were installed

The scheme is directed specifically at people across the district who have the most complex needs and who have histories of repeated homelessness.

Bradford Council is working on the scheme with drug and alcohol service the Bridge Project and the Waythrough not-for-profit group.

Bridge Project chief executive Jon Royle said: "Housing First is a compassionate, humane response to help a group of people who've had incredibly difficult and challenging lives.

"(And to help them) fulfill their potential and gain a level of dignity that most of us take for granted."

Rough sleepers pitch tents where they can in the city centre to make a temporary home

Claire McCreanor, director of housing and property services at Waythrough, added: "Providing people with a safe and secure place to call home while addressing the multiple disadvantages they face, with support tailored to their situation, is a transformative approach to getting people's lives back on track.

"We are pleased to be building on our experience working within innovative housing support partnerships to enable people in Bradford to put homelessness and related challenges like substance use and mental ill health behind them."

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