The plight of homeless people in Barrow will take centre stage tomorrow (Wednesday 8 August) in a series of special events organised by Cumbria County Council.
According to the latest government figures, 26 households were homeless in Barrow during October to December last year.
The homeless charity Cumbria Shelter, which is taking part in Wednesday's events at the town's Forum 28, has produced figures showing that between 2006-07 a total of 60 people in Barrow had no fixed abode.
The county council's Supporting People partnership has now joined forces with Barrow Borough Council to help to raise awareness of the problem and give people who are or have been homeless the chance to influence and shape polices that could help in the future.
The events on Wednesday are open to everyone and begin at 10:00am with the chance to register for the day, which will include a talk by Tricia- a Barrow woman who found herself her homeless after fleeing from domestic violence.
Follow the link at the bottom of this page to view an article about Tricia who is available for print and broadcast interviews.
From 11:00am, Forum 28 will host a question and answer session where people from the town will have the chance to quiz a panel of experts about homelessness in the area.
Later in the day, a special workshop session will be held. Here, people will be invited to suggest their own solutions to some of the issues raised at the question and answer event.
During the session, which begins at 1:30pm, people will also get to vote on what they see are some of the best solutions to the problem.
ENDS
Media enquiries to Mark Graham, Media Officer on 01228-606337
Notes
1. Interviews with Tricia be arranged through Cumbria County Council's Supporting People officer Brian Ruddie on 07976-062-200
2. Government figures show that in the period between October and December 2006, there were 161 households accepted as homeless in Cumbria, split as follows:
Allerdale - 32 (0.8 per 1,000 households) Barrow - 26 (0.9 per 1,000 households) Carlisle - 57 (1.2 per 1,000 households) Copeland - 9 (0.3 per 1,000 households) Eden - 8 (0.4 per 1,000 households) South Lakeland - 29 (0.6 per 1,000 households).
Follow this link to view the article about Tricia