The plight of homeless people in West Cumbria will take centre stage on Friday 20 July in a series of special events organised by Cumbria County Council.
According to the latest government figures, 32 households were homeless in West Coast during October to December last year.
The county council's Supporting People partnership has joined forces with Impact Housing and other local organisations to help raise awareness of the problem and give people who are or have been homeless the chance to influence and shape polices in the future.
The events on Friday in Workington's Carnegie Hall are open to everyone and begin at 10:00am with the chance for people to register for the day and talk to representatives from a host of organisations including Cumbria Police, the Citizens Advice Bureau, Copeland Borough Council Impact Housing Association and Derwent and Solway Housing.
At 10:30pm, a local service user will talk about some of the problems people leaving prison have in finding a home where they can start to rebuild their lives.
From 11:00am, Workington MP Tony Cunningham will chair an open question and answer session where people from West Cumbria 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 2:00pm, people will also get to vote on what they see are some of the most best solutions to the problem.
Those attending will also get the chance to elect three people who have experienced life on the streets to a special user group which the county council's Supporting People partnership will consult with as it develops policies to help homeless people across Cumbria.
ENDS
Media enquiries to Mark Graham, Media Officer on 01228-606337
Notes
1. For more information on next week's events, please contact Brian Ruddie from Cumbria County Council's Supporting People partnership on 01228-607125.
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).