More than £800,000 has been identified to help low-income households and support community organisations tackling poverty, as we continue to offer support to those most in need.
We launched the Brighton & Hove Fairness Fund in February and made £614,000 available to provide additional financial support to struggling households and grassroots organisations working to help people through the cost of living crisis.
This funding was designed to work alongside the Household Support Fund, a grant available from government also aimed at helping those facing significant financial challenges.
We've since secured additional external funding, bringing the fund total up to £873,000.
To date, £186,000 has been distributed in hardship support; we've also set aside £170,000 for applications from local organisations supporting marginalised communities and vulnerable households.
A further £25,000 will be provided for energy support programmes to help those experiencing fuel poverty.
A new partnership between the council and energy provider SGN is also expected to generate a further £400,000 to help people with energy costs, on top of the £873,000 already set aside for the Brighton & Hove Fairness Fund.
The expanded fund would complement the next wave of Household Support Fund coming from the government, likely to provide an extra £2.1 million to support households in food, fuel and financial poverty.
The future of the Household Support Fund, however, has not been confirmed, meaning the Brighton & Hove Fairness Fund may become even more vital in the coming years.
As a result, councillors will this week be asked to agree to make £480,000 of the fund available for longer-term support and advice to help prevent households from reaching crisis point and to mitigate any future drop in available Household Support Fund.
Councillor Jacob Taylor, deputy leader of the council and Cabinet member for Finance and City Regeneration, said: “We are incredibly proud of the Fairness Fund, the impact it has had so far, and the impact we are confident it will continue to have.
“However, we know there are people in our communities who are still struggling with the cost of living and some of our fantastic community organisations and charities face an uncertain future.
“Our plan will continue to provide support to grassroots community organisations, but it will also help us to move towards preventing more households from reaching crisis point.”