Richmond Council has been awarded more than half a million pounds in Government funding to help combat homelessness.

The council was awarded £569,106 from a pot of cash that has been set aside by the Government in a bid to tackle rough sleeping during 2020-21.

Councillor Liz Jaeger, Deputy Leader and Vice-chair of Adult Social Services, Health and Housing Services Committee, said: “We work hard to tackle rough sleeping in our borough.

"And, we are especially pleased to have our work in this area recognised and reinforced by this new, additional funding.

“Making a difference to our most disadvantaged residents is one of our main priorities.

“Assisting people off the streets requires trust, persistence and resources and we are pleased to have successfully bid for this important extra funding.”

The scheme also aims to significantly reduce rough sleeping across the UK.

The continued funding will fund an additional case worker, also called ‘navigators’, to guide rough sleepers off the streets and into accommodation as rapidly as possible and a coordinator to help pull all strands of this complex work together.

Help will be given both to people who have just begun sleeping on the streets and those more entrenched.

The navigators will work with individual rough sleepers to negotiate a personalised route into accommodation.

A specialised local letting agency will be continued to source tenancies for the homeless to move into.