Other measures include giving £550,000 to homeless charities
The town hall has been buoyed by the £3m boost(Image: Copyright Unknown)
Manchester council has announced a major crackdown on tenancy fraud in a multi-million-pound programme to reduce homelessness across the city.
The town hall secured a £3m boost from the government to fight homelessness on Friday (October 10), World Homelessness Day.
Now, the authority has confirmed it will spend the money on preventing Mancunians becoming homeless in the first place, and work to reduce the risks of someone falling back into rough sleeping after they find somewhere to live.
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Part of the cash will go to ‘ensuring social housing in the city is available to those who need it most’, with council chiefs promising ‘a major crackdown on tenancy fraud’, a drive to bring empty homes back to the property market, and moving families to smaller council houses if their current property is too big.
“In Manchester, we are working tirelessly to prevent people from becoming homeless in the first place through early help, and to ensure anyone who does become homeless gets the support they need to build new lives in settled homes,” said council leader Bev Craig.
“It’s good to see that we are bucking the national trend by reducing the number of families in temporary accommodation and effectively eradicating the use of B&Bs for families.
“A big part of our efforts are focussed on building a record number of council, social and genuinely affordable homes for Manchester people. We are also determined to make the best use we can of the 70,000 council and social homes we already have.
“Homelessness remains a big challenge and one we cannot tackle on our own. On World Homelessness Day we pay tribute to the amazing charity and voluntary groups in our city who share our mission to end avoidable homelessness in Manchester.”
Some £550,000 of the £3m will also be given to Mancunian charities in council grants, with more information on which organisations to be announced soon.
Other measures include council-run temporary accommodation being adapted for disabled people, as the need for disability-friendly rooms is growing, and 180 people leaving the care system being placed in shared rented homes.