A NEW scheme will help Reading’s homeless population get vaccinated against covid.
Launched by the council in conjunction with the NHS and homeless charity St Mungo’s, the project also provides accommodation for rough sleepers across the winter.
To fund the project, £184,000 of grants has been provided by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities’ (DLUHC) Protect and Vaccinate programme.
Cllr Ellie Emberson, lead member for housing at Reading Borough Council, said: “It is so important that this funding has been released to assist with our continuing support for those sleeping rough in Reading.
“We are helping by providing residents with accommodation throughout the winter months and also giving them vital access to vaccinations.”
The project sees all those in receipt of accommodation offered their first, second and booster covid jabs, thanks to mobile vaccination centres. These will be sited at day centres and places where homelessness services take place.
St Mungo’s Reading outreach coordinator Wendy Dobbs said: “We are pleased to be working with the council to support those who are most vulnerable and to prevent Covid-19 from becoming a permanent health crisis for people experiencing homelessness.
“Many of the people we support find it difficult to access health services, and vaccine uptake among people experiencing homelessness remains low.
“This funding will support our work to build trust and facilitate access to vaccines, while also providing emergency accommodation to protect people from the combined threat of the Omicron variant and Covid-19.”
This scheme follows the opening of 40 modular homes in Caversham Road last November as the Council continues to find ways to help the homeless in the town.
Over the Christmas period, thanks to St Mungo’s, the site was able to help 40 people.
It is hoped the new homes will give the opportunity for people to rebuild their lives through longer term accommodation, paired with the essential support to break the rough sleeping.
The £2m investment to install the temporary homes was funded with help from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) as part of its Next Steps Accommodation programme to address rough sleeping.
