Bucks Council receives £2.7m funding to tackle homelessness throughout the county

The Government has provided Bucks Council with a £2.7 million kitty to help tackle homelessness throughout the county.

Funding has come from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) to assist rough sleepers as winter approaches.

Bucks Council is using the funding to prop up five different projects running up to March 2025.

Among the initiatives to benefit from the money are emergency beds, housing first support, and drug and alcohol outreach.

Councillor Mark Winn said: “I am delighted that our funding bid has been successful. There is a huge amount of work being carried out in Buckinghamshire to engage with rough sleepers and to secure accommodation and support so they can move off the streets. The £2.7 million will help us to continue and expand this support.

“Virtually eliminating rough sleeping and tackling homelessness in Buckinghamshire is one of the key priorities of this council and our determination to make a difference to people’s lives is reflected in the development of our new county-wide homelessness strategy.”

Local homeless support charities will be involved in the strategy to tackle rough sleeping.

Bucks Council is focusing on offering support to people who might need help with:

mental health issues drugs and alcohol issues housing support maintaining tenancies

The charities which had a say on the projects include: Aylesbury Homeless Action Group (AHAG), Wycombe Homeless Connection, One YMCA, Bucks Mind, Connections Support, Oasis Partnership, One Recovery Bucks and Oxford Health.

Also the council advises that it works with housing providers, private landlords, and other organisations to organise housing for those stuck on the streets.

Further information can be found on the local authority’s website here.

Ministry of Justice figures released in May showed that 22 households in Bucks were evicted by landlords.

This was a significant rise from the previous year’s figures when just seven properties were emptied on the demand of a landlord.

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