SHELTER Scotland’s Support Services team in South Lanarkshire has won a competitive tender to further extend its services to help even more individuals, couples and families cope with the uncertainty and upheaval of homelessness.
Begins a spokesperson: “The Blantyre-based team won the contract from South Lanarkshire Council to deliver an extended service in an area where, currently, more than 16,000 households are waiting for a home and over 2,300 households are homeless in the area (1).
“The Shelter Scotland service has helped more than 600 families and 1,000 children across South Lanarkshire in the eleven years it has been running.”
Alison Watson, head of Services, Shelter Scotland, the housing and homelessness charity, said:
“We are delighted to have received funding to enable us to reach out to more people struggling with housing issues or homelessness across South Lanarkshire. This expansion of our services will mean we can offer up to 250 hours of intensive support each week to some of the area’s most vulnerable households.
“We will be able to build on our work of the past eleven years in South Lanarkshire and extend our support to include single people, couples and families and help reduce the number of people caught in the revolving door of homelessness.”
Val Holtom, homelessness manager, South Lanarkshire Council, said:
“South Lanarkshire Council is very pleased to award the contract for this service to Shelter Scotland. We have worked closely with Shelter Scotland over a number of years and are confident that our ongoing partnership will enable us to provide high quality support and accommodation to many more vulnerable households affected by homelessness.”
ends/
Notes to Editors:
1. The number of households on the South Lanarkshire Council house waiting list was 16,925 in March 2010. Scottish Government: Housing Statistics for Scotland 2010. The number of households assessed as homeless in South Lanarkshire was 2,398 in 2009/10. Scottish Government: Operation of the Homelessness Persons Legislation in Scotland 2010.
2. Shelter Scotland, the housing and homelessness charity. Shelter Scotland believes that everyone should have a home. We help people find and keep a home. We campaign for decent housing for all.
3. Spokespeople are available for interview, telephone the media office on 0844 515 2442. An ISDN line number is available for broadcast interviews.
4. For more information about Shelter Scotland visit www.shelter.org.uk
5. Follow Shelter Scotland on Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/shelterinscotland
Twitter – http://twitter.com/shelterscotland.
MEDIA RELEASE posted by Shelter Scotland. You too can post media releases (aka press releases) on allmediascotland.com. For more information, email here.
Contact: Nicola Baxter, Neil Baldwin
Phone: 0844 515 2442
Website: http://www.shelter.org.uk
