The COVID-19 pandemic poses unprecedented risks to all, but those experiencing or at risk of homelessness are especially vulnerable. Charities like Centrepoint, Depaul UK, St Mungo’s and Homeless Link which provide accommodation for people who are homeless are determined to do everything it takes to maintain the high level of service we deliver all year round, yet the sector needs vital support from the government to do this.
Coronavirus has been an unprecedented challenge for charities working to support homeless people. Since MHCLG issued the ‘Everybody In’ directive at the end of March, approximately 5,400 rough sleepers have been placed in emergency accommodation.1 The instruction was clear - ‘focus on people who are, or are at risk of, sleeping rough, and those who are in accommodation where it is difficult to self-isolate, such as shelters and assessment Centres.
The formal housing eligibility and entitlement frameworks are not considered under the SWEP. Any person rough sleeping and in dire need of a safe and warm place, who cannot afford to live indoors (except cars, sheds, barns, garages, etc.) is protected under the SWEP.
QA INLINE IMPACT Pagebuilder March 23 listings summary
We've written an open letter to the Home Secretary Suella Braverman, alongside 14 other organisations, calling on the government to urgently reconsider proposals to criminalise the use of tents by people by people sleeping rough.
This report presents an analysis of data collected by local authorities during the financial year 2022/2023, and examines the development of the implementation of the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017 (HRA) in its fifth year. It also updates the previous year’s findings, including Centrepoint’s estimate of the national scale of youth homelessness.
Jeff Moore
We sent some of our snowmen to protest outside the Houses of Parliament to highlight the shocking number of young people at risk of homelessness this winter.
Former residents with lived experience of homelessness talk about what it's really like to sleep rough, the reasons behind it and the solutions.
Ministers say the plans, currently racing through parliament as part of the Criminal Justice Bill, will give police and local authorities the ‘tools’ they need ‘in situations where those sleeping rough are causing damage, disruption and distress’. Centrepoint is worried this open-ended nature of ‘disruption and distress’ could leave the new laws open to abuse.
On a chilly December afternoon, BBC Radio 1 DJ Dean McCullough joined our wonderful Centrepoint staff to learn about the vital work they’re doing in Manchester.
