Minister presents annual Christmas gift for those experiencing homelessness

£150,000 has been made available to homeless people in Northern Ireland to make Christmas a more enjoyable time of the year for service users.

The annual donation from the Northern Ireland Executive was made today to the Council for the Homeless (CHNI) at their conference marking the end of the Homelessness Awareness Week. 

The money is distributed by CHNI to homelessness organisations on an equitable basis to fund in-house Christmas social events, Christmas outings and small gifts for service users.

Making the donation today, Communities Minister Paul Givan said: “This funding will go some way to making Christmas and the New Year period more enjoyable and positive for homelessness service users. I know this annual donation is greatly appreciated by the sector and service users and I very much appreciate the Council for the Homeless distributing the £150,000 on behalf of the Northern Ireland Executive.”

Welcoming the annual donation, Ricky Rowledge, CEO of Council for Homeless said: "On behalf of those organisations working with homeless people, we are extremely grateful to the Minister for once again making this generous funding gesture. On behalf of our members, we thank the Minister for his continued support, particularly in these times of cutbacks, austerity, and increasing costs. This money will enable agencies to provide people who are homeless with a sense of normality at Christmas time, going some way to ensure that their Christmas and New Year will be an enjoyable and positive one.

“Whilst homelessness is particularly poignant at Christmas, it is important that it becomes a year-round priority, particularly in the light of the current economic climate.”

Notes to editors: 

1. Media enquiries to DfC Press Office on 028 9082 3505 or email: press.office@communities-ni.gov.uk. Out of office hours please contact the Duty Press Officer via pager number 07623 974383.
2. Follow us on Twitter- @CommunitiesNI

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