This month, as temperatures begin to drop and winter approaches, I thought I’d share with you some good news we have regarding efforts to help the regions homeless.

Birmingham’s Irish community has always helped the city’s homeless, stretching right back to when Irish people first came to Brum. Back then the priests of St Anne's acted to ease a chronic lack of accommodation by opening a single room in Moat Row to Irish immigrants.

Today, the Digbeth parish remains at the centre of provision for rough sleepers, via Tabor House, which is based in the Birmingham Irish Association building.

Since I became Mayor, homelessness has been one of my priorities, which is why I have championed Housing First, the pilot scheme which shares many of the approaches seen at Tabor House.

Now, more than £2.5 million extra funding has been secured for the Housing First project, to continue supporting hundreds of people who had previously been sleeping rough.

Originating in Finland, Housing First works with housing associations, charities, support groups and councils to help rough sleepers get off the streets.

The programme is overseen by the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) Homelessness Taskforce and headed up by Birmingham City Council alongside local authorities in Coventry, Dudley, Sandwell, Solihull, Walsall and Wolverhampton, in partnership with housing providers and homelessness charities.

Housing First is Government funded, and the latest £2.5 million comes after an initial £9.6m over the last three years.

The latest money not only means the pilot project can carry on but will be crucial in making sure those people who have already been given a roof over their head can continue to build their life away from the street.

The government announced the funding as part of its new Rough Sleeping Strategy to drive forward its manifesto commitment to end rough sleeping for good.

Housing First, unlike other schemes, places individuals directly into independent tenancies with no requirement to progress through transitional housing programmes.

They are given a choice about where to live and wraparound support, and the evidence has shown that this leads to positive outcomes.

So far, the scheme has helped 526 individuals across the region by taking them off the streets and getting them better access to supportive services.

Since the very start of my time in office, I have made tackling homelessness a key part of my mayoral mission. The regional Housing First scheme has contributed to reducing rough sleeping across the West Midlands, thanks to some brilliant collaborative work – but there is still more that needs to be done.

With this additional £2.5m secured for the Housing First scheme in the West Midlands, it gives us the chance to deepen the support we offer to those who have fallen on tough times to rebuild their lives.

I’m proud to be associated with Housing First, which represents the latest chapter in our region’s efforts to support those in need, and continues the work done by the Irish priests and volunteers all those years ago in Digbeth.

I’m sure they would want us to press on and help even more people.

Welcome to another Birmingham Irish Association news update

We publish news and project updates keeping you up to date with details regarding our services and events, as well as other local developments and other news that will be of interest to our clients as well as other visitors.