Kevin Foster, Green Party candidate for the Mayor of York and North Yorkshire, announces plans for a Mayor’s Poverty Support Fund.
Kevin said:
Many of our most vulnerable residents have been left behind by years of austerity and the cost of living crisis. They rely on support from voluntary organisations to help meet their most basic needs of food and shelter.
During the mayoral campaign, I have met people across all of York and North Yorkshire and from every walk of life. These include people using and running projects and centres combatting homelessness and food poverty. The staff and volunteers of these organisation work tirelessly, but it is clear they are under huge pressure from a combination of increased need and reduced funding contributions from central government and local councils. I intend to help bridge that gap with my Mayor’s Poverty Support Fund.
The Mayor’s Poverty Support Fund will provide grants to organisations which provide food poverty oraccommodation support services to our most vulnerable residents in York and North Yorkshire. It will start with a £1m funding pot for the period from the mayoral election up to 31 March 2025 which will come from the mayor’s £18m budget. Full details of the application process and qualification criteria will be published by the office of the mayor after the election, but I want to have the scheme up and running and open for applications within 2 months of the election.
Kevin has said that it wouldn’t be a one-off allocation for the first year in office.
Kevin said:
Unfortunately the need for these vital services isn’t going to go away any time soon. It is important to act quickly because these need are so urgent, but I do want to learn from people working on the front line how I can improve the scheme and what else the mayor can do to help. I intend to visit or send a representative to meet every single applicant so I can get a real feel for the situation before announcing details for year 2 and beyond.
There are 6 candidates, with elections on the 2 May 2024.
Keith Tordoff – Independent Candidate
Felicity Cunliffe – Lister – Libdems
David Skaith – Labour
Kevin Foster – Green Party
Keane Duncan – Conservative Party
Paul Haslam – Independent Candidate
