Cherilyn Mackrory MP praises work done to reduce rough sleeping in Cornwall over pandemic but has called for long term solution

Truro and Falmouth Member of Parliament Cherilyn Mackrory has singled out the work done by Cornwall Council and St Petroc's in helping to reduce rough sleeping in Cornwall during the COVID-10 pandemic.

Speaking in Parliament today, Cherilyn told the Housing Minister that in Cornwall, homelessness and rough sleeping has historically been an issue and that in recent years, some excellent work has been done in Cornwall to combat the issue by St Petrocs and by Cornwall Council, particularly with the success of the recent Pydar Pop UP project in Truro.

Cherilyn went on to say that more needs to be done, welcoming the £5.5 million that the Government have provided to Cornwall Council since September to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping, asking the Minister if she would agree that the money needs to be spent on long-term solutions to find homes for those who are homeless and rough sleeping.

Speaking after the debate, Cherilyn said:

"I was pleased that the Minister agreed with me that it is so important to tackle the long-term causes of street homelessness and provide, suitable, permanent education for these particularly vulnerable people.

"This Government has sent large amounts of funding to help reduce homelessness in Cornwall, and the £5.5million announced recently is a substantial amount of money that creates a real opportunity to end rough sleeping in Cornwall.

"Just this week I have written to the Leader of Cornwall Council and asked how the council on working with stakeholders to develop plans to spending this money effectively. The pop up project at Pydar is an excellent first step and I hope projects like this will be expanded to help people off streets in the long term through this pandemic and beyond."

[H3] Follow the latest news on our Twitter and Facebook pages. [.H2]