Council leaders have agreed to spend £1.4 million on tackling the growing problem of rough sleeping in Stoke-on-Trent.

The city's rough sleeper outreach team was helping 81 individuals in the autumn – a 16 per cent increase on 2024 – while the number of homelessness inquiries in Stoke-on-Trent has hit a seven-year high.

Stoke-on-Trent City Council received a £974,225 Rough Sleeping Prevention and Recovery Grant from the government for 2025/26, with £438,453 left in reserves from previous allocations.

Cabinet members have now authorised officers to use this money to continue or expand services aimed at helping rough sleepers off the street and into accommodation.

The money will be spent in line with the council's action plan to tackling rough sleeping. Strands of the action plan include providing temporary off-street accommodation, offering 'intensive wraparound support' to rough sleepers, and developing a pipelines of move-on accommodation.

Councillor Chris Robinson, cabinet member for housing, said: "This funding will be essential in our mission to reduce and prevent rough sleeping and help enable tailored support for individuals facing the most complex challenges."

Cllr Robinson said that during the recent cold snap, which resulted in the severe weather emergency protocol being triggered, the council helped around 40 individuals to get off the street. But Cllr Robinson believes that more need to be done to tackle the problem in the long-term.

He added: "It comes back to our ambition for the city. It's why we are pushing investment towards empty homes, because there are a number of empty homes in the city that could be brought back into use and this would help to get people off the streets."

Proposed funding allocations include £287,277 for a new night shelter, and £250,000 for additional off-street accommodation.

A further £266,277 will be spent on intensive support, while voluntary organisations will be allocated £194,845 to provide rough sleepers with 'meaningful activity'.

The council has previously agreed to spend £150,456 on reopening the nine-bed night shelter previously provided by Swan Bank Methodist Church in Burslem.

Cabinet members supported the proposals for spending the money. Councillor Duncan Walker, cabinet member for safer and resilient communities, believes it is important to help rough sleepers get off the streets permanently, noting the £227,837 being allocated to move on floating support.

He said: "It's the same cohort of people who keep coming back, because the support to help them move on hasn't been there. But I understand that now there will be close monitoring of the support on offer, which I think will make all the difference.

"If you have a tangible goal that can turn around someone's life, rather than it just being a quick sticking plaster approach."

Councillor Sarah Jane Colclough, cabinet member for children's services, added: "We all see the impacts of rough sleeping and homelessness and there is a particular focus at this time of year.

"I've been contacted over the snowy period by a number of residents concerned about people rough sleeping in my ward.

"But it's part of a bigger picture, it's about the move-on accommodation. We're ambitious to build more properties so people who are helped out of homelessness can find move-on accommodation."