P3's Derbyshire Outreach Team to close on 31 January 2018
*UPDATE: DOT has been reinstated as of December 2019! Please go to: www.p3charity.org/DOT for more details.*
Last January, P3 responded to an increase in the number of people sleeping rough across the county by fundraising to establish a new service, the Derbyshire Outreach Team.
Unfortunately, P3 is no longer able to financially sustain this service and it will close on Wednesday 31 January as attempts to secure the much-needed, longer term funding, have sadly, been unsuccessful.
P3’s Assistant Director of Operations Rebecca Harrington-Leigh who manages the service stated:
“We are extremely worried for the wellbeing of people who are living on the streets across Derbyshire.
“The increase in the number of people known to be rough sleeping across the region is alarming and our concern for their continued support has only increased as there have been two deaths in Chesterfield in recent months.
“We are passionate about the service we provide and we are not bothered about who funds it or who delivers it. We have assessed and supported 122 people over the past twelve months and this figure doesn’t include all of the people referred to us who have chosen for their own personal reasons not to engage.
“Sadly, there is a definite need for a more robust, joined up response to the issue of street homelessness across Derbyshire – the people we are working with on a daily basis are acutely vulnerable on the street and need to be appropriately supported.”
With the increasing cost of living, including increasing rents, mortgages, food and fuel prices, and welfare reform, more people than ever are struggling with housing and being pushed into or getting stuck in a cycle of homelessness.
Recent data released this year by the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government reported that homelessness across Derbyshire has risen by 317 per cent in the last seven years and that there are now an estimated 71 homeless people in the region. Since 2010, the number of rough sleepers nationally has soared by 169 per cent.
P3 have launched an online JustGiving page to raise £60,000 to support our ongoing work with people who are homeless across Derbyshire. Please go to: www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/p3charitydot
