Appeal for help as ‘savage’ cuts threaten Torbay’s homeless

The government has been urged to step in as ‘massive cuts’ threaten the welfare of some of Torbay’s most vulnerable people.

The bay’s Liberal Democrat MP Steve Darling highlighted the plight of the bay’s homeless people during a Westminster debate on ‘Ending Homelessness’.
He said people rough-sleeping on the streets were just ‘the tip of the iceberg’ of the crisis in the UK’s housing system, and it was ‘humbling’ to go out with the bay’s outreach team to make contact and offer help to people sleeping outdoors.
He said there had been a massive reduction in social rented housing stock. From 34 per cent of housing stock at the beginning of the Thatcher government 45 years ago to just 17 per cent now. In Torbay only seven per cent of housing stock is now social-rented.
“The private sector has stepped up,” he said. “But that leaves people with massive bills to pay for what is sometimes not the best housing.”
He paid tribute to local teams working with homeless people including Kath Friedrich, who received a BEM in a recent Honours List for her work with the People Assisting Torbay’s Homeless organisation.
And, he added, the Reverend Sam Leach and his team at St Mary Magdalene Church in Torquay town centre, did ‘incredible work’ supporting street homeless people. The Unleashed Theatre organisation had also won the King’s Award for voluntary service, he said, for similar work.
But, he said, the government must step up.
“I am afraid to say that under the Labour government we have a quarter of a billion pounds of cuts to our NHS, our mental health service has lost £21 million, and the homeless and rough sleepers team in Torbay is being ripped out,” he added.
“Will the minister intervene with the Devon Partnership NHS trust over the savage cuts that are leaving some of the most vulnerable people even more on the edges of our society in Torbay?”
Housing minister Alison McGovern, the Labour MP for Birkenhead, said the government had announced £84million additional funding this year for homelessness and rough sleeping.
It was, she said, also providing a huge investment in the local authority housing fund, which would enable councils to buy better accommodation and stop using expensive bed and breakfast hotels.