Our Burnley-based Gateway service has successfully recruited a second homelessness navigator to help combat rough sleeping in Burnley. The navigator, due to start April 2020, will work to engage some of the most vulnerable members of the community, reaching out to rough sleepers directly. Through their work, navigators will not only source permanent housing solutions, but also equip individuals with the skills and long-term support necessary to avoid a return to the streets.
While Calico Group’s Gateway project provides a range of services to assist rough sleepers across the borough, it can be a struggle for those enduring difficult circumstances to find or actively seek out help. By engaging rough sleepers directly, our navigators effectively remove barriers to support and enable vulnerable people within the community to access Gateway’s services.
The council funded Navigator role has already helped house 19 people off the streets since its launch in July 2019. The addition of a second Navigator will ensure this early success is continued and built upon over the coming months.
The fresh recruitment follows a successful bid to secure a share of £112m in additional funding accessed through Burnley Borough Council’s Rough Sleeping Initiative. In the areas it operates, the Rough Sleeping Initiative has already reduced the number of vulnerable people sleeping rough by 32% since its introduction in 2018.
The additional funds form part of a wider government-led drive to tackle rough sleeping across the UK, with the Prime Minister pledging £260m to tackle the issue and eliminate rough sleeping completely by 2024.
Kate Cunliffe, Homelessness Service Manager at Gateway said: “This fresh investment is a really positive step, allowing the Gateway project to reach and support even more vulnerable people within the community”
Part of the Calico Group, Gateway Burnley is a state of the art wellbeing project that provides guidance, training and advice to homeless and vulnerable people throughout the community.
For more information about Gateway, please visit – https://syncora.org.uk/gateway/
Call: 0300 3033976
Email: contact@calico.org.uk
For referrals, contact your local council.