The homelessness crisis in Preston is intensifying as the city’s MP brought together a range of organisations to hear potential solutions.and Mike Amesbury MP, Shadow Minister for Housing Standards and Homelessness, were the two politicians quizzed on their plans for the future, provoking discussion and at some points anger about what the government needs to do to tackle the crisis.
Preston City Council’s biggest cause for concern was the demand for homelessness services in the city, with the team seeing 78 new homeless applications in just four days, 30 per week being the average.“We have less time and less resources with an increasing number of people with higher support needs or complex cases.”
As snapshot data revealed last month, Preston had the highest amount of rough sleepers in Lancashire.In February, Preston City Council had 35 people come off the street into different accommodation pathways – some hope for the future. “Someone turned up at our day centre this morning after two and a half years in prison with no discharge policies in place.