'Shocking' Health of Homeless Highlighted In Report

More needs to be done to address the health needs of homeless people across Nottinghamshire, a report has recommended.  It found that each of the 349 respondents reported having three or more separate health needs, including 74 per cent reporting mental health problems, with just 31 per cent having a diagnosis, 18 per cent reporting having an alcohol problem, or recovering from one and 26 per cent had attended A&E in the past six months. It also found 38 per cent of those polled were either taking drugs or recovering from a drug problem, compared with 8.8 per cent of the general population, and that 34 per cent had no fruit or vegetables in their regular diet.  Download a copy of the report from the Notts County Council website.

Council 'Shocked' At Budget Hole

A county council has claimed a £133m budget hole has increased to £154m over three years, meaning more job losses and service cuts for residents.  Labour-run Nottinghamshire County Council said they had expected a £38m funding cut following George Osborne's spending review, but that had increased to £50m over two years.  It said a further £10m cut in 2016/17 will leave it with a £154m hole.  Council leader Alan Rhodes said the situation had arisen as a result of a proposal to give money the council usually receives from the government for developing new housing - the New Homes Bonus - to the Local Enterprise Partnership instead. "The proposal to transfer the New Homes Bonus to the Local Enterprise Partnership means we have less say in how it's spent.” Read more on the BBC website.

Savage Cuts Will Leave People Sleeping Rough on the Streets

If you remember the 1980s you'll recall the sight of rough sleepers on the streets of towns and cities. It would be stretching it to say visible homelessness has entirely disappeared in recent years, but the problem has been massively ameliorated, not least by targeted investment in housing through the £1.6bn Supporting People (SP) programme. Indeed, as SP funding melts away, its funding ringfence removed, and its infrastructure corroded by cuts made on an astonishing scale and at terrifying speed by desperate councils, it increasingly looks like another lost and unacknowledged Labour success story. In Nottinghamshire, for example, the Tory-run county council's proposal to slash SP by 65% from April – drawn up, unbelievably, even before the chancellor George Osborne had delivered his comprehensive spending review bombshell last October – has since been compounded by Labour-controlled Nottingham city council's own plans for 45% cuts to SP. Other councils, too, are planning big reductions in SP funding. Read more on The Guardian website, and read Grant Shapps’ reply on the posting immediately above this.

Cash-Strapped Councils Slash SP Budgets

Supported housing budgets could be devastated in parts of England following savage cuts planned by local authorities. Nottinghamshire Council is consulting on axing 67 per cent from its Supporting People budget, from £22.5 million in 2010/11 to £7.5 million next year. Rochdale and Cornwall councils are planning cuts of 30 and 40 per cent respectively. Michael Leng, operation’s director at Nottinghamshire-based homelessness charity Framework, said the council’s proposed budget cut represented a ‘near total disinvestment’ from services, which were not a statutory requirement. Jenny Edwards, chief executive of umbrella group Homeless Link, said its members were being asked to re-negotiate contracts before they had fully run. Wendy Young, head of Nottinghamshire Council’s voluntary sector liaison service, said ‘tough decisions’ had to be made. ‘The county council needs to make £150 million of savings over the next three years.’ Read more on Inside Housing.