New Forest crime warnings fail to stop £1.8m cut in Hampshire homelessness budget
CUTS worth £1.8m for homelessness services in Hampshire are set to be approved despite warnings from New Forest District Council that it could make crime worse.
The Conservative-run county council is preparing to reduce funding to £2.4m, which will be focussed on the most urgent cases as the authority seeks to fill a £140m financial hole by April next year.
As reported in the A&T, NFDC’s Tory administration had warned that such a move could increase crime and emergency accommodation costs locally.
HCC’s cabinet member for adult social care and health, Cllr Liz Fairhurst, is set to sign off the changes on 5th December after they have been debated by the adult social care and health select committee (HASC). They would come into effect on 1st August next year.
Cllr Fairhurst pointed to £56m that the adult social care department needed to save amid “unprecedented financial challenges”.
Her intention is to provide intensive 24/7 housing and night shelters, but axe supported housing and community services for less urgent cases. Funding would continue for community support for people moving on from intensive services.
She said: “While I am mindful that savings of this scale mean that the county council must challenge the way it currently provides services and look at different ways to meet people’s needs, I will wish to ensure I have considered the findings from the public consultation in full, along with any recommendations from the HASC, before making a final decision on the future of the services.”
HCC’s plans were attacked by Liberal Democrat Cllr David Harrison, of Totton South and Marchwood.
He said: “I refused to support the proposals, pointing out that the Tory government itself has pledged to end homelessness by 2027 and that I simply did not see how the target would ever be achieved by withdrawing the necessary money.
“If homelessness gets worse, not better, then don't believe any Tory councillor who tells you that they care and did their best.
“This is supposed to be post-austerity Britain. It makes me angry that all the fine rhetoric of our MPs in Westminster is never matched by funding and action at the levels of government where it counts.”
The responsibility for housing homeless people lies with district-level councils, but HCC has traditionally offered assistance and is required to look after rough sleepers’ social care needs.
NFDC receives about 165 homelessness applications each year and has more than 3,000 people on its local housing list.
