As one of Cheltenham’s YMCA honorary vice-presidents, I was delighted to join dozens of hardy souls at the YMCA Sports Centre off Arle Road to support their annual Sleep Easy last weekend. I have slept rough for YMCA many times in the past, and I know how gruelling it is to bed down in their cold and damp car park with just a cardboard box for shelter.
The sheer number who turned out is a sign of our community’s respect for the work of the YMCA. They do an extraordinary job of providing kindness, comfort and shelter to some of the most vulnerable people in our Cheltenham community. As I have said in Parliament, every rough sleeper is a living rebuke to us to do more, and the YMCA answers that call every day.
Their flagship £4.1m supported accommodation building on Vittoria Walk provides 73 rooms for those facing challenges, from addiction to relationship breakdown and mental health difficulties.
To back their work, I am delighted that we were able to secure nearly £1 million from the Government to set up our town’s first ‘homeless hub’ shortly after I raised the issue at Prime Minister’s Questions. That emergency hub is staffed all day, every day, to provide a safe environment off the streets. On arrival, staff make a rapid assessment and provide interventions tailored to the individual. Those might relate to mental health or substance abuse. Staff also design a personal housing plan to tackle the underlying drivers of the individual’s rough-sleeping.
In addition, outreach workers are also funded by Government, so that members of the public can report rough sleepers to the Streetlink portal knowing that the vulnerable individual will be contacted and offered rapid support.
In addition, I am delighted that just last week the Government awarded Cheltenham Borough Council a further £209,000 in Homelessness Prevention funding to provide homes for rough sleepers and to help prevent families from ending up without a roof over their heads.
But as well as emergency accommodation, we need follow-on homes too. That’s why I’m delighted we secured £3.8 million Government funding to secure 50 one and two-bedroom flats across Cheltenham and beyond for people facing homelessness.
There is of course more to do, but our community is coming together to address the challenges. And YMCA are playing a leading role.