Homeless charity cannot meet demand, says CEO

Caron Williams said homelessness in Coventry was getting worse

A homelessness charity has only been able to help about one third of the people who have approached it this year, according to its CEO.

Caron Williams, who runs Coventry Cyrenians, said the issue in the city was becoming more “challenging” for its staff and users.

She said it was getting worse for reasons including mental health, people getting poorer and houses “not being built at the rate the city is growing”.

Her comments came after Coventry City Council was confirmed as one of 115 local authorities getting a share of the government’s £10m emergency fund to tackle rough sleeping.

Ms Williams told BBC Radio CWR: “This year, we were approached by more than 700 people and we were only able to help about a third of them.

“That’s really, really challenging for the staff and for the people approaching us as well.”

She said those who were turned away often added to the “increasing amount” of people who were sleeping rough in Coventry.

“Coventry has got gradually fuller and it’s not got a huge amount of properties being built at the moment – they are not being built at the rate the city is growing and they’re expensive,” she added.

“As a result, there are 9,000 families currently waiting on the social housing register in the city. If you want a four-bedroom house in Coventry, you’ve got to wait up to nine years.”

She said the issue was like trying to “pour a gallon into a pint pot”.

Coventry City Council is set to get £108,000 of the government’s emergency fund, which aims to help with the pressures of rough sleeping in the winter.

But Ms Williams said the money would not be enough, adding that the situation was “really, really difficult” and that the council was “doing well with what they have got”.

“There’s a lot going on and there’s a lot of people who need support. I’m not certain we know how many resources are required to support all of the people in the city,” she added.