A £3 million fund will soon be rolled out by the government to help rough sleepers to open bank accounts, secure ID documents and find secure housing.
The services are already available at Jobcentres across the UK, but on a visit to Leeds today welfare minister Will Quince MP admitted that many rough sleepers do not visit them as "there is a real issue around mistrust of authority".
To overcome this obstacle, the £3 million initiative will pay for outreach teams to go directly into homeless shelters.
The initiative will focus on major cities worst affected by homelessness, but it is not yet clear whether Leeds will benefit.
During a visit to Leeds homeless charity St George's Crypt today (Friday), Mr Quince said: "We know that there is a real issue - in particular with the rough sleeping community - around mistrust of authority and we know that their first priority is not coming into a Jobcentre.
"As a result they don't always know the help and support that is available via our welfare system.
"That £3 million fund is going to fund outreach work so we can get some of our work coaches actually out into communities, out onto the streets, to give people that guidance and advice about what they're entitled to, to make sue they are getting the benefits they deserve."
The announcement follows a commitment from the government in late 2019 to hand £263 million to local authorities to tackle homelessness.
However, the number of rough sleepers has skyrocketed by 165 per cent since 2010, when the Conservative government came into charge.
Leeds City Council also saw its flexible homelessness support grant slashed by more than a third last year.
When quizzed on this by LeedsLive, Mr Quince said: "There's no question the figures are not where we want them to be. As far as I am concerned, one person sleeping rough on our streets is one person too many.
"Is there a lot ore to do? Absolutely there is."
Leeds will find out whether it will is set to benefit from the £3 million fund in April.
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