Decision on homeless charity aid deferred

The Gingerbread Housing Project has been part of the Bradford landscape for 20 years but the council says it is unhappy with the standard of service provided.

There were fears that it would lose its £162,000 funding but yesterday a decision was deferred pending further discussions with elected members and stakeholders.

Corine Campbell, project manager of Gingerbread, defended the organisation’s service, which provides temporary accommodation for homeless single-parent families saying the quality of service was “excellent”.

Moira Wilson, Bradford Council’s strategic director for adult and community services, said: “We are very clear that everyone currently using the accommodation or services of the Gingerbread Housing Project would continue to receive support, if the proposals about future provision for homeless people were to be accepted by the multi-agency commissioning body.

“No resident would need to leave until appropriate alternative accommodation had been found for them and there is sufficient capacity in the supported housing sector to meet the needs of all those people currently using Gingerbread’s services.

“The proposals are part of a series of reviews that have been looking at how vulnerable people can be best supported in the longer term.

“The Supporting People Programme, which provides housing related support to help vulnerable people to live as independently as possible in the community, is funded from the overall formula grant which the council receives from the Government. The funding formula indicates that Bradford’s allocation for Supporting People was reduced by £2.4m or 13 per cent this year.”