The London Councils Grants Committee has agreed funding for a four-year pan-London grants programme to tackle homelessness and combat domestic and sexual abuse. This latest phase of the grants programme, which will run from 2022 to 2026, is funded by London boroughs on a cross-party basis and will provide support to London’s most vulnerable residents.
The 2022-26 grants programme will see over £6 million invested each year in tackling two of the most serious issues facing the capital:
Homelessness – support to prevent people from becoming homeless; specialist support for young people; targeted support for rough sleepers. Currently, more than 165,000 homeless Londoners live in temporary accommodation. The capital accounts for two-thirds of England’s total number of homeless households in temporary accommodation.
Domestic and sexual abuse – support for people at risk of harm; specialist help for survivors to help them rebuild their lives. The scale of victims suffering from domestic and sexual abuse is difficult to establish and often underreported, however, from March 2020 to April 2021, the Metropolitan Police recorded 94,457 domestic abuse related crimes and 155,674 domestic abuse related incidents. Recent polling by London Councils has shown that Londoners’ concern around sexual abuse is increasing, with 58% of respondents worried about being a victim of rape / sexual assault. This has increased by 17% from 2019 when respondents were asked the same question.
Since 2017, the current Grants programme has helped more than 7,000 people into crisis or short-term accommodation, including nearly 3,000 young people as well as helping 6,000 people into settled accommodation, including over 2,300 young people. It has also supported over 17,000 survivors of domestic and sexual abuse to access crucial support.
The new programme will continue this great work and strengthen the collective efforts of local government, the voluntary and community sector, and other partners across the capital who work to ensure the most vulnerable London families have a safe place to call home.
Mayor Damien Egan, Chair of the London Councils Grants Committee said:
“Tackling homelessness and domestic abuse are major priorities for London Councils. We are announcing a new £24 million programme of funding to enable London boroughs to do more to tackle these issues. I am pleased that we will deliver these new projects by working directly with London’s voluntary and community sector organisations.
“Since we started our grants programme, London Councils has helped over 13,000 Londoners facing homelessness and over 17,000 survivors of domestic and sexual abuse to access the support they need to rebuild their lives. This new funding will help many thousands more Londoners access services when they need them most.”
The 2022-2026 grants programme will be delivered in partnership with the boroughs, alongside voluntary and community sector organisations from April next year to support residents across the capital:
Tackling homelessness
Homeless Link
New Horizon Youth Centre
Shelter, The National Campaign for Homeless People Ltd
St Mungo Community Housing Association
Combatting domestic and sexual abuse
Against Violence and Abuse (AVA)
Asian Women’s Resource Centre
Ashiana Network
Galop
SignHealth
Refuge
Women’s Aid Federation of England
Women and Girls Network
Women’s Resource Centre
