Homelessness projects awarded more than £80,000

The projects, which cover the east midlands, south east and east of England, received £84,747 from the future ready fund after demonstrating how the grant would help make a real difference in their work to tackle homelessness.

The fund has a total budget of £500,000 in 2013/14 and has made 37 grants worth over £750,000 to date. It is backed by the homeless transition fund, which is administered by Homeless Link and funded by the Communities and Local Government department.

‘These five projects were selected because they proposed responses that are known to be effective and the funding will help ensure they go on providing critical services to those experiencing homelessness,’ said Samantha Rennie, director of the homelessness transition fund.

Among the successful recipients were two projects in Medway, Kent. The first will aid the merger of two homelessness charities, allowing them to pool expertise and resources in supporting particularly hard to reach clients, while the other will pay for a fundraising expert to join Ashdown Medway Accommodation Trust, to develop a three-year plan to ensure the service can continue.

YMCA Bedfordshire also received a grant to help a staff training programme, covering a range of essential topics that will enable them to better meet the needs of those accessing their services and maximise the outcomes they can achieve.

The final two projects that received a grant were situated in Leicester, where 10 homelessness organisations joined forces to form a single voice in the city, and in Dacorum, Hertfordshire, where the funding will be used to introduce the most widely used quality standard in the charity and voluntary sector.

The homelessness transition fund will be making further grant announcements in coming months and is encouraging organisations that feel they would benefit from a small grant of between £5,000 and £25,000 to apply.