Nearly £1million of government funding has been secured to provide extra support for homeless people in Gloucestershire.

In partnership with Gloucestershire County Council, Clinical Commissioning Group, and the other district councils in the county, Gloucester City Council has secured up to £990,000 'social impact bond' (SIB) funding for the long-term homeless, along with seven other areas in the country.

The funding for this four-year project will be dedicated to delivering one-to-one support to help long-term and repeat homeless people.

Later this month, cabinet will be asked to approve that the city council lead on the SIB funding and the commissioning of an organisation to deliver the new service, which will start in October this year.

The service will work with 110 people in the city who have a history of rough sleeping or have spent many years interacting with homeless services.

Professionally trained members of staff called 'navigators' will work with small case loads, building a genuine rapport and level of trust with each individual person.

Cllr Colin Organ, cabinet member for housing at Gloucester City Council, said: "I'm really pleased that we've been chosen for the SIB support scheme and that we're going to lead on the funding.

"It will help a specific proportion of genuinely homeless people who have extremely complex needs and have struggled to find a way out of homelessness in the past."

The new project will be in addition to existing services, which includes the city council's housing advice and homelessness team, and supported accommodation and community-based support services funded by the county council.

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