03 September 2004
Housing and local government officials have responded angrily to the government's decision to slash funding for vulnerable housing tenants by £105m, warning of 'potentially disastrous' consequences for services.
The budget for the Supporting People programme, revealed on August 31, will fall from £1.805bn this year to £1.72bn for 2005 and then to £1.7bn in 2006/07 and 2007/08.
Ministers cut funding to the programme, which gives housing-related support to vulnerable groups such as women fleeing domestic violence, older people and rough sleepers, after an independent review by Robson Rhodes concluded it was not delivering value for money.
Local authorities, which administer the programme, will find out their individual allocations in the autumn. But the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has already said that the cut in budget means they will have to find efficiency savings of up to 7.5% next year.
Service providers immediately hit out at the decision. Peter Walters, chief executive of the English Churches Housing Group, said: 'If local authorities are forced to apply cuts on support services for homeless people, they will hit hardest those schemes dealing with people with the most complex multiple problems.'
David Thompson, housing policy consultant at the Local Government Association, told Public Financethat authorities were particularly disappointed that savings were being kept by the Treasury.
'The Robson Rhodes review found there was scope for value-for-money savings, but it also recognised that there was unmet need,' Thompson said.
The Audit Commission is inspecting authorities that spent most on the programme. Its findings, together with a new needs-based distribution formula, will 'inform' the individual allocations.
PFsep2004
