Funding has been secured to keep Julian House’s Bath-based services running for another year, as Bath & North East Somerset (B&NES) Council confirmed that it will not make planned budget cuts in 2024.
Services under threat from cuts include the Manvers Street Hostel, which has provided emergency, short-term accommodation for rough sleepers in Bath for 35 years. In the past year, it has supported over 100 people to get off the streets and navigate their way to more secure, independent living. 90% of these people have a local connection to B&NES.
As well as confirmation of Council funding, Julian House has received grants from the government’s Community Organisations Cost of Living Fund and Garfield Weston Foundation to support the hostel’s running costs.
But the hostel is not the only Julian House service helping vulnerable people in B&NES. In 2023-24, our programmes which remain at risk of Council cuts supported:
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141 rough sleepers through our daily Outreach walks
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9 people with Autism through our specialist supported housing
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67 people with a variety of complex needs through supported housing
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155 people struggling to get by from Gypsy, Roma, Boater or Travelling communities
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28 prison leavers on probation, helping them to avoid homelessness and reintegrate into society
B&NES Council has said that planned savings of £802,000 to its adult services budget will need to be made from April 2025, leaving a question mark over future funding for all of these services.
Roanne Wootten, Strategic Partnerships Director at Julian House, says:
“We are obviously thrilled to hear that we will not face cuts in 2024-25, and we are hugely grateful for charitable grants, council funding and generous donations from the public, which will help us to keep our doors open this year.
“Our focus now is on continuing to deliver an excellent service for the vulnerable local people who we support and securing the future of our services beyond 2025.
“Demand for our services is higher than ever, and we are determined to reach as many people as we can in Bath and across the South West for years to come.”
Rough sleeping rates in B&NES increased by 25% last year, with the government’s rough sleeper count showing that 15 people were sleeping on the city’s streets on a single night in autumn 2023, compared to 12 in 2022.
This rise is reflected across Somerset (19% increase) and the South West (18% increase), which is the region with the third highest proportion of rough sleepers in England – after only London and the South East.
B&NES council has committed to working with Julian House and other third sector providers to decide how planned budget cuts to adult services will be implemented without incurring knock-on costs to the public purse.
