Winter emergency accommodation scheme aims to help eight people currently sleeping rough in Scarborough

There are currently at least eight people sleeping rough in the borough, according to Scarborough Council’s cabinet member for stronger communities and housing.

In a statement presented to a full meeting of the authority, Cllr Carl Maw said: “At the end of October I can confirm there are eight people sleeping rough in the borough.

"All of these are known to the council and [are] receiving various forms of intervention and offers of help.”

The cabinet member for housing added that “a number” of the people sleeping rough are from outside the borough and stated that they “have accommodation available to them in other parts of the country”.

A further nine people who were rough sleeping are currently accommodated in permanent and secure “Housing First accommodation provided by Beyond Housing”, while a further four people who were rough sleepers are in emergency accommodation.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, the number of people in temporary accommodation “dramatically escalated” due to directives around rough sleeping and single homelessness.

In April 2020, Scarborough Council said that “100 households were in temporary accommodation” and as of September of that year, the number of households in temporary accommodation had dropped to 61.

At the council meeting on Monday November 7, Cllr Maw also reported that the council had been successful in its application to the Government for funding through the national Rough Sleeping Accommodation Programme and “several further units of Housing First accommodation are due to complete this year”.

Earlier this year the authority said it had seen an increase in the number of people camping and setting up tents on council land, especially in the North Bay.

Although not rough sleepers, council officers had advised the campers that they “do not have permission to be there and that they should leave”.

The cabinet member for housing also said in his report that from November, the authority’s “winter watch” service will recommence.

He said the service provides emergency accommodation for rough sleepers “through our out-of-hours arrangements and the partnerships we have in place with the voluntary sector and the police”.

Support and advice on homelessness can be found on Scarborough Council’s website at https://www.scarborough.gov.uk/home/housing/homelessness.