QUESTIONS continue to be raised around the approach council chiefs are taking towards the homeless community in Bournemouth.

Under fire staff at Bournemouth Borough Council have been subject to a barrage of comments online after recent events and discoveries in the town centre.

However, the authority says it spends almost £10m per year on direct services to help people faced with homelessness.

These include the following:

• Funding a rough sleeper team to outreach those rough sleeping throughout the year. The team engage with rough sleepers to encourage take up of support services and accommodation to help move forward in their lives. In an average month, they help approximately 15 rough sleepers back into accommodation.

• A dedicated mental health practitioner who works very closely with the rough sleeper team.

• The rough sleeper team manage a drop-in service for rough sleepers throughout the week.

• Funding a wide range of supported housing schemes for people who are homeless, almost 100% of which are full every night.

• Funding 24/7 support at five hostels providing approximately 150 bed spaces for single homeless in Bournemouth to encourage skills for independent living and to link them in with the necessary other support services.

• Funding support for five young people’s hostels providing 33 bed spaces in Bournemouth for those under 18 who would otherwise be homeless

• Funding and managing three family emergency hostels for homeless families to avoid them going into BnB.

• Funding a women’s refuge hostel in Bournemouth who face homelessness due to domestic abuse.

• Managing a further approximately 100 properties providing temporary accommodation for people who are homeless.

• Currently purchasing an additional 250 new homes for those coming to us as homeless.

• A team of six housing options officers as well as triage staff providing ongoing advice and assistance to up to 1,000 coming into the Town Hall every month with concerns about their housing and possible homelessness.

• Paying out approximately £500,000 per year on loans to people who are homeless enabling them to pay a deposit for a private rented property. This helps approximately 350 singles and families each year to find alternative properties to rent.

• Using some of the council housing stock as temporary accommodation for homeless households.

• Maximising borrowing to build new council housing and have built over 200 new Council homes in the last few years.

• Funding an innovative ‘housing first’ project for the last two years, which has provide self-contained accommodation alongside intensive wrap around support to house rough sleepers. Currently fund six properties, with hopes to secure funding for more.