Mansfield council to increase spending on support for rough sleepers
A group of rough sleepers in Nottingham
By Latifa Yedroudj, Junior Local Democracy Reporter
Support for the homeless in Mansfield is to be increased after the local council warned the number of people sleeping rough is rising.
Mansfield District Council will allocate more funding for support staff and increase working hours to meet the increased demand.
A council report on the issue reads: “The homeless service is increasingly pressured with additional contact coming from customers through online triage, phone enquiries and drop-ins at the Civic Centre.”
It adds officers are seeing an “increasingly high” number of rough sleepers, putting extra pressure on the current system.
Currently 6.5 full time equivalent Early Intervention Officers work in the council’s service – reports say they currently have 60 case loads per person – meaning there are around 390 people needing help to avoid ending up on the streets.
An extra officer is expected to be recruited for a 22 month period to provide extra support to the homeless team, the report says.
An increased urgency on “crisis work” with rough sleepers means less time is spent on prevention work, documents also say.
Documents read: “Mansfield also have an increased rough sleeper pressure which means that the service cannot always concentrate on prevention work due to the crisis work that they have to deal with immediately.”
The Labour-run authority is also planning to increase the working hours of two existing staff – moving them from part-time to full-time work.
The two existing staff, who work for the Housing Needs Service, will help bring in private accommodation for applicants currently in temporary accommodation through the Private Rented Access scheme.
The scheme, which started in January 2025, allows landlords to offer properties to those in temporary accommodation.
Documents read: “This report recommends that temporary additional hours are added to the existing establishment in relation to employees currently in the Housing Needs Service.
“This would allow this role to focus solely on the private rented project
and bring in much needed private accommodation for applicants we are accommodating in temporary accommodation.”
The new job post and increase in working hours will be covered through Government grant funding at a cost of £86,500.
This decision is set to be approved during a delegated decision by the chief executive on Monday, March 31.
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