Heather Wheeler commented on the homelessness situation as she visited Milton Keynes today.
The new YMCA building is set to open later this year and will support almost 200 young people.
Heather Wheeler, Minister for Housing, Communities and Local Government visited the site to see the progress.
Speaking to MKFM, Wheeler says, "Nobody in this day and age should be sleeping on the street and there's no need for it, in the last 12 months we've put money to councils and charities and all the different groups that get involved with this and we're looking at immediately £30million, that has got over 4000 bed spaces and another thousand emergency spaces and also 500 outreach workers now help get these people off the streets."
There are many tents in the underpasses in central Milton Keynes as homelessness remains a key point in local politics, "In Milton Keynes, [rough sleeping] gone down 15% and it's one of the success stories."
Wheeler wants to reassure people rough sleeping in MK that there is help, "It's a very complex reason why people are on the streets but they need to know that authority is there to help them, not to hinder them."
The Minister, and Mark Lancaster MP, went on to host an informative roundtable meeting with the Milton Keynes Homelessness Partnership at the newly established Unity Park Station.
Commenting on the visit, Mark Lancaster says, "I am delighted to have Heather Wheeler visit Milton Keynes to see some of the fantastic joint work we are doing to tackle homelessness in our City. The YMCA is an exciting project as is the innovative approach we are taking to get people off the streets through the multi-agency focus we see at the old Bus Station. I will continue to support all these efforts to ensure no one is homeless in our local area."
