Devon MPs respond to plea to end homelessness 'disaster'

Charities have warned of a "significant increase" in rough sleeping if planned funding cuts go ahead

MPs in Devon have responded to a plea from campaigners to lobby ministers for more money as a council considers cuts to homelessness funding.

A £1.5m cut to homeless prevention is included in the proposal from Devon County Council (DCC), which is under consultation.

The council insists no decision has been made but charities have warned the cuts would be a "disaster".

The government said it had a two-year £650m plan to prevent homelessness.

But Exeter Homelessness Forum has written an open letter to all Devon MPs warning of impending crisis without targeted funding.

The group, made up of various charities and housing associations, urged MPs to lobby ministers to "provide the desperately-needed funding to avoid DCC precipitating a homelessness crisis in Devon".

Their letter said a £1.5m cut would lead to the closure of services and a "significant increase" in rough sleeping.

'Vital support'

Liberal Democrat MP for Tiverton and Honiton, Richard Foord, said cutting funding targeted at preventing homelessness was "short-sighted" and would impact some of the "most vulnerable people".

He said taxpayers would bear the burden long-term as demand for other frontline support would increase.

Ben Bradshaw, Labour MP for Exeter, said he was "extremely concerned and alarmed" by the proposed cuts.

He added: "I fully support the representations made by the organisations working to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping, would strongly urge the council to think again and the government to ensure our local authorities have the resources they need to address this serious problem".

Anne Marie Morris, chair of the Conservative group of Devon MPs, said tackling homelessness was "vitally important".

She said DCC's plans remained in "consultation", decisions were yet to be taken and they were seeking more information from the council on the detail, impacts and if other arrangements were being proposed.

'Trigger closures'

The letter from the charities and housing associations outlined how the funding in question currently paid for contracts with five providers which support some 250 people at any one time.

"The removal of this funding will bring about the loss of vital skilled and professional support which enables people with complex needs to establish and maintain accommodation after a period of homelessness," the letter said.

"According to the DCC's own impact assessment this could trigger the closure of 'five hostel provisions' across the county, creating an inevitable and significant increase in homelessness and rough sleeping.

"This is in addition to a very large number of people who are homeless but hidden from view - for example sofa surfing or in B&B accommodation - many more of whom are likely to end up rough sleeping without these services."

'Growing demand'

Peter Stephenson, director of the charity St Petrock's in Exeter, said on Twitter the proposal "would be a disaster for people experiencing homelessness and the wider community".

DCC said recently that it "reluctantly" proposed the cut to homelessness prevention because it could "no longer afford" to keep funding it.

"We've budgeted this year to significantly increase spending in services that support vulnerable children, young people and adults to meet rapidly-growing demand for those services," the authority said.

"To prioritise spending on our statutory responsibilities we have to make savings in the region of £45m from elsewhere and get the best possible outcomes from every single penny we spend.

"While we've been able to help fund this support service in the past, even though it falls outside our statutory adult social care responsibilities, sadly we can no longer afford to do so.

"We will not make a decision regarding this proposal until we've considered the consultation responses and we encourage people in the meantime to let us know what they think."

The consultation process is open until 19 April.

A Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities spokesperson said: "We are investing £650m over the next two years to prevent homelessness - this can be used to work with landlords to prevent evictions, provide temporary accommodation or find new housing."

They said more than 500,000 households had been supported to secure accommodation since the introduction of the Homelessness Reduction Act, part of a £2bn plan to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping.

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