Plan to stop homelessness

AN action plan to tackle homelessness has moved a step closer after receiving the backing of a town hall committee.

The new approach will see two hubs established, one each in Wigan and Leigh town centres, providing emergency accommodation and support services.

Lead officers say it will provide a major boost to efforts to prevent people from becoming homeless and helping those who already have to find sustainable housing.

Members of the authority’s health scrutiny committee were this week told the blueprint will ‘complement work undertaken at a Greater Manchester level’ with the region’s mayor Andy Burnham having pledged to end rough-sleeping by 2020.

Deputy leader Keith Cunliffe said it has taken ‘a considerable amount of time to develop’ with workshops and consultation events taking place throughout the past year.

He told the committee: “Some of the things that came out of the workshops were that whilst we were being quite successful in some ways, in others we could do better. The system is a bit fragmented, it was about how we make it more holistic.”

The council will work alongside partner agencies and charities to ‘avoid duplication’ in the system.

Coun Cunliffe, who is the council’s lead member for adult social care, said: “The most important aspect of this is to prevent people from becoming homeless.”

The council’s increased focus on prevention has seen the amount of homeless cases averted increase by 59 per cent in the last four years, according to a report.