Ten homes to be bought by council to provide rough sleepers in Northampton a place to live

Funding of £1.32m has been approved by West Northamptonshire Council to buy and refurbish 10, one bedroom homes to provide accommodation for rough sleepers.

The council's cabinet approved the funding at Tuesday's (July 13) meeting.

On July 1, the council submitted an application for funding for the government’s Rough Sleeping Accommodation Programme which covers the West Northamptonshire Council area.

The programme’s aim is to provide accommodation for rough sleepers, available as long-term assets and accompanying support services to reduce the number of people sleeping rough.

The purchases of the homes will be funded through a combination of the council’s Housing Revenue Account and Homes England grant funding, which is pending approval.

The funding application also includes a proposal for revenue for a tenancy sustainment officer, a fixed term for two and a half years, to work with rough sleepers identified as part of the programme to help them into more settled accommodation.

The Rough Sleeping Accommodation Programme is part of a range of measures to meet the government’s commitment to ending rough sleeping.

Last year, the government announced the programme which is backed by £433 million of funding and aims to support up to 6,000 rough sleepers into longer term accommodation.

Once in their new home, rough sleepers will be supported by specialist staff to access the help they need moving towards training and work.