Wrexham Council awarded £245k to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping

Wrexham Council has been awarded £245,000 to help tackle homelessness and rough sleeping in the county borough.

The local authority is one of five across Wales to be awarded a share of £2.1m from the Welsh Government.

The funding has been allocated to projects which tackle rough sleeping, youth homelessness, mental health and homelessness as well as supporting people to find housing in the private rented sector.

Wrexham, along with the three authorities listed above, will also receive a share of an additional £500,000 of capital funding, which aims to increase the capacity of emergency night provision for rough sleepers.

It has since been confirmed that the local authority has been awarded £245,000 to help tackle the issue and offer support to individuals in Wrexham.

Homelessness in the town centre in particular has been well-documented in recent months, with a make shift encampment set up on the site of the former Groves school in July.

In September the camp was vacated by those staying on the site and last 200m of fencing was installed along the Groves school to prevent “further settlements”.

As a result there has been growing pressure form the public and campaigners for further action to be taken to help those facing homelessness in Wrexham.

Commenting on the funding, Cllr David Griffiths, Lead Member for Housing, said: “We welcome the announcement from the Welsh Government, and can confirm that of the funding, £120k will be allocated in capital funding for Wrexham County Borough Council, and £125k in revenue funding.

“The capital funding will be used to support visibly homeless people in Wrexham while the revenue funding will go into mental health, rough sleeping, Housing First and young people support.”