Views are being sought on Kent County Council’s (KCC) proposal to end funding for the Kent Homeless Connect (KHC) service when the current contract ends.

Following the approval of the council’s budget in February, it was proposed that, to meet the ongoing severe financial challenges the council is facing it could stop funding the discretionary KHC contract when it expires on 30 September 2022.

Instead KCC will work with district, city and borough councils, who have the statutory responsibility for housing and homelessness, to find and embed alternative ways of delivering this essential support.

Transitional funding for these services would also be made available by KCC until at least March 2023 to ensure no break in services occurs if this difficult decision is made.

Clair Bell, Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Public Health said: “We are acutely aware of the vital need for support services for homeless people and this proposal has not been taken lightly.

“We remain committed to ensuring these vulnerable people can access the support they need and are working hard with all our partners including district, city and borough councils, to develop transition plans that will show how support would be delivered in the future and how the changes will be made.

“There remain many other ongoing cross partnership initiatives providing support to our vulnerable residents at risk of homelessness which will continue to give them the help they need, and we will also be examining ways in which to improve on these in the future.”

The consultation opens today (Tuesday 26 April) and will run for six weeks until 6 June. Visit  www.kent.gov.uk/homelessnessconsultation to have your say.

For any queries contact KHCconsultation@kent.gov.uk

Or to request a hard copy or alternative format of the consultation document, email

alternativeformats@kent.gov.uk

or call 03000 41 99 88 (text relay service number 18001 03000 42 15 53)

This phone number goes to an answer machine, which is monitored during office hours.

ENDS