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Homelessness in Bristol
Hello all. Here’s an update of what I have been doing as Councillor for Brislington East recently including a report back on the action the council has taken recently in regard to homeless people during the lockdown.
ST ANNES’S STATION
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Last Friday, Bristol East MP Kerry McCarthy and I submitted our second stage bid in relation to the re-opening of St Anne’s Park station. The bid, which runs to 21 pages, sets out why we think there is a strong case to re-open the station and, if successful, will bring with it almost £50,000 of government funding to carry out a full scale feasibility study.
We have had excellent support from Bristol City Council’s transport department and I am confident we have put forward a very strong case. The bid will now be reviewed by a panel including representatives from the Government, Network Rail and others who will decide whether or not to allocate the next stage funding. You can read more about Restoring Your Railways fund here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/reopening-beeching-era-lines-and-stations/re-opening-beeching-era-lines-and-stations#ideas-fund
It is now out of our hands, but fingers crossed!
HOMELESSNESS IN BRISTOL
Here’s something we should celebrate about our city: during the entire lockdown period to date, not a single homeless person has died from Covid-19 as far as we know.
In March 2020, before the pandemic hit, Bristol had roughly 120 people rough sleeping and another 140 in shelters such as the one at St Annes House. When lockdown was introduced, the Council received a call from government asking them to get all homeless people off the street within 24 hours. Whilst this target proved somewhat ambitious, within a very short time the vast majority of people were housed off the streets and out of shelters.
In order to achieve this the council contracted with three hotels as well as the YMCA and the YHA to provide safer accommodation for a large number of people, with the current numbers being around 280 people in hotels. The contracts with these hotels currently last until the end of July.
The Council is very keen not to go back to the way things were before the pandemic. The city has introduced a 24-month Move On project with the aims of:
* Dealing with the systemic bottle neck in supported housing – people ready to move on but not enough affordable accommodation
* Securing an ongoing supply of accommodation from various sectors to meet the long term need
* Moving people out of temporary accommodation and supported housing.
* Creating wrap-around support services focussed on the needs of each individual.
One of the key changes which the government has made during the crisis is the increase in the Local Housing Allowance to ensure that it covers the full rent for a larger number of houses in the Private Sector. It is hoped that this will be maintained after the lockdown, as it will greatly improve the chances of getting more people off the streets and eventually into their own housing in the private rented sector. 7
SIMON GOLDSMITH
FAMILY OPTICIAN
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