£9.6m for project to eliminate rough sleeping in the West Midlands

The cash will pay for 225 properties across the region – including 75 in the Black Country – which specialist street intervention teams will use to house homeless people.

It will run as a pilot scheme for three years and is based on the Housing First model, which has successfully reduced rough sleeping in Finland.

The project will be overseen by the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) and the West Midlands Mayor Andy Street’s homelessness task force, alongside housing providers and homelessness charities in the region.

It was signed off by James Brokenshire in his first act as Housing Secretary.

Mr Street, who visited Helsinki last year to see Housing in action, said: "I can vouch for the positive impact it has on supporting rough sleepers and came back determined we trial it here in the West Midlands.

“In essence, it can provide people who are homeless with a new start, somewhere to call home. From there, they will be given support to help them rebuild their lives.

“Now the funding has been confirmed we will work with charities and local authorities on getting the pilot up and running."

Figures from January show the number of people sleeping rough on any given night in the Black Country was 60 in 2017, up from 58 in 2016.

The charity Homeless Link estimates rough sleeping across the UK went up by 15 per cent between 2017 and 2018, with 4,751 people thought to be sleeping rough on any one night.

Polly Neate, the CEO of Shelter, said: "With rough sleeping at it's highest in a decade, this action to help people off the streets and into a safe, secure and affordable homes has never been needed more.

"Housing First offers a unique opportunity to tackle rough sleeping by moving people on the streets into a permanent home with the support to help them keep it.

"But it’s absolutely crucial that this is part of much broader plan from the government to fix our housing emergency.

"It urgently needs to get on with the job of building many more genuinely affordable homes and make sure housing benefit reflects the cost of renting."

Initially, the scheme aims to work with long-term rough sleepers to help them off the streets along with individuals at risk of homelessness and those with particularly challenging needs.

Jean Templeton, chair of the Mayor’s homelessness task force, said: “A huge amount of work has gone into preparing the bid to Government for this pilot and we are really pleased with the outcome.

“Now the funding is confirmed, we can really push on. We’ve done a lot of the groundwork in terms of sourcing accommodation and developing the systems.

"Now, we are aiming to start moving individuals into Housing First tenancies within the next three to six months."

Similar pilot projects have been launched in Greater Manchester and Liverpool.