Kingston Council has given a share of £1m in Government funding to become ‘homeless prevention trailblazers’ in helping crisis-hit families avoid life on the streets.

Alongside Sutton and Merton council the borough successfully applied for the Department for Communities & Local Government scheme, a Government initiative to see local authorities reform housing services.

The three boroughs teamed up for the bid, successfully taking £1,004,790 in funding.

Cllr Cathy Roberts, cabinet member for housing, said: “This is a significant amount of funding coming our way from central government.

It presents us with an enormous opportunity to deliver better outcomes for homeless people in our boroughs. The funding requires us to think and work differently, and to be more proactive in preventing people from becoming homeless in the first place.

“Faced with a housing crisis, locally and nationally, we cannot afford to miss opportunities to help people stay in their homes.”

A total of 122 bids were made to central Government, with only 28 applicants successful.

In December, Kingston Council was also awarded £400,000 to help about 400 homeless people off the streets.

Both bids were awarded thanks to strong backing from homeless charity SPEAR.