Chapter 9: Create and develop healthy and sustainable places and communities
Everyone-in programme
The pandemic has highlighted just how much our health and wellbeing are influenced by where we live and the communities and homes that we live in.
The need for a safe place to live was a priority as the first lockdown was introduced.
We received additional funding from the government at the beginning of the first lockdown to provide accommodation and support for rough sleepers and people at risk of rough sleeping.
To deliver on the programme and provide direct access emergency accommodation in Gateshead, we block booked hotel accommodation so there was somewhere safe for people to stay, with floating support provided by Oasis Community Housing. From there we were able to support people into dispersed temporary accommodation or, in some cases, straight into permanent accommodation. The programme was very successful.
Some of the people had complex needs and required a lot of support and it was quite challenging to accommodate them in hotel accommodation.
We were also successful in bidding for government funding for the Next Steps Accommodation Process. This money was used to bring 15 long-term empty properties into use (and decorate and furnish them) for people at risk of rough sleeping and two outreach workers to support them in becoming ready for permanent accommodation.
The pandemic has highlighted the need for direct access emergency accommodation in Gateshead and this has fed into our Homelessness Review.