City gets almost £1m to help tackle rough sleeping

The government cash will be used to try to cut the numbers of people sleeping rough in Peterborough

Nearly £1m has been handed to a city by the government to help it tackle homelessness as winter approaches.

Peterborough City Council has been given £938,360 to help prevent people from sleeping rough, with the government saying these numbers have doubled nationally over the last 15 years.

The announcement came on Friday's World Homelessness Day and the money will be spent in this year's budget.

"Those who are threatened with homelessness and suffering from homelessness are some of our most vulnerable residents," said council leader Shabina Qayyum.

"This money will help them to rebuild their lives and find a safe, stable home.

"Ultimately, it will help save lives in our city."

The money - part of an £84m national package - will be used across Peterborough to prepare for winter and make sure services are ready to respond to seasonal pressures in order to try to stop people rough sleeping.

It will also be spent on helping those with complex needs and boost services to make sure fewer end up sleeping rough before asking for support.

The funding will go towards reinforcing partnerships between voluntary, community and faith organisations too.

Twenty-four people sleep rough in the city, according to the latest council report on the issue.

The Liberal Democrats' Christian Hogg, the council's cabinet member for housing and regulatory services, said: "It is fitting that this money has been made available to us... on World Homelessness Day.

"[It] will provide a good uplift to the services we provide in the city tackling rough sleeping and helping to prevent homelessness."

As part of the announcement, the government said it had spent £1bn on homelessness this year.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said "record levels of households" were in temporary accommodation, including nearly 170,000 children.