Dozens of Sheffield children in temporary accommodation during first lockdown
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Following the Government's announcement of a new £15 million package to support rough sleepers during the current lockdown, homeless charities have said they are frustrated at the piecemeal approach to funding.
Centrepoint, a charity supporting homeless young people, wants to see ring-fenced resources for under-25s, who they say have been hit the hardest by the pandemic.
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Hide AdBetween April and June, 284 Sheffield households who were homeless or at risk of homelessness were placed in temporary accommodation – including 35 with children.
This meant 82 Sheffield children were living in accommodation ranging from private housing to B&Bs.
Figures from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government show that 1.16 households per 1,000 in Sheffield were in temporary accommodation between April and June.
Across the region there were 1,950 households in temporary accommodation in the period, including 540 with children.
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Hide AdPaul Noblet, Centrepoint's head of public affairs, said: "To keep rough sleepers safe this winter we need to see a level of focus and funding from the government which matches their initial response to the pandemic earlier this year.
If we're to keep people safe this winter, we urgently need ministers to replicate the effective support that was rapidly put in place at the beginning."
Polly Neate, chief executive of homeless charity Shelter, said: "It’s critical that access to safe accommodation is not a lottery in this pandemic, it must be there for everyone who needs it.”
Robert Jenrick, Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, said: "The way we have protected rough sleepers from Covid-19 is widely considered to be the best in the world."
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Hide AdHe continued: "At the start of the pandemic we launched Everyone In, which protected thousands of vulnerable people.
"That work hasn’t stopped and we’ve backed it with £700 million."
Sheffield City Council was approached for a comment.
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