Homelessness charities are being invited to apply for grants of up to £200,000 from a £3m Homelessness Transition Fund pot to help deal with rough sleeping.

Run by charity Homeless Link and Supported by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG), the Homelessness Transition Fund aims to prevent and tackle rough sleeping, which increased by 23 per cent last year according to government figures released last month.

This latest round of grants opened yesterday and will close on 12 October. An online ‘webinar’ briefing will be held for charities interested in making an application on 19 September.

Homeless Link said that priority will be given to areas that are experiencing high levels of homelessness and want to adopt its No Second Night Out initiative – which entails giving the help needed swiftly enough to avoid new rough sleepers having to spend a second night on the streets.
 
“We want to help communities that have been hardest hit by homelessness,” said Sharon Allen, chair of the Fund’s grants panel.

“If you’re a charity which has a new idea when it comes to tackling rough sleeping or you want to join the growing number of areas to adopt No Second Night Out, we want to hear from you.”

The Homelessness Transition Fund has given out £11.6m via 62 grants since it first launched in 2011.

Last month the DCLG announced it will invest £3.5m across 21 charities to expand a No Second Night Out to eight more areas. It began in ten central London Boroughs and later expanded to all the capital's Boroughs.

The Transition Fund has also announced that in September it will launch the Future Ready Fund, which will allow homelessness services that are at risk of closure to apply for grants of between £5,000 and £25,000 towards securing their futures.