Lottery boost for West Yorkshire community groups
A charity which supports people in West Yorkshire with multiple problems like homelessness, addiction and reoffending has been given a £9.8m boost.
The Developing Initiatives for Support in the Community (DISC) group was given the money by the Big Lottery Fund.
It would help to "improve services to tackle the needs of people living chaotic lives", a fund spokesman said.
DISC will work with 15 organisations across the county to support people with complex problems.
The money will be used to improve the way services work together.
DISC's chief executive Mark Weeding said: "This is fantastic news, we have the opportunity to help a small but significant group of people with very complex needs to change their lives."
The charity estimates that there are 2,425 people with multiple problems in West Yorkshire, more than a third of them living in Leeds, and about 60% of them do not receive any help.
"These are people whose problems are too complex for housing, probation, drug treatment or mental health services to solve on their own," said Mr Weeding.
"Working with partners we will help services to come together.
"We already have the expertise of people who have made their way to recovery and with their support we are confident we can take advantage of this unusual opportunity to do something new and different."
DISC will work with a number of groups including community organisation Barca in Leeds and drug treatment charity Bridge in Bradford,
Other agencies that will benefit from the money include Public Health Leeds, South West Yorkshire Foundation Health Trust, West Yorkshire Police and West Yorkshire Probation Trust.