Merseyside charity calls for easier access to housing
Skylight Crisis Merseyside say the Government need to unfreeze housing benefits.
Temperatures are dropping dramatically in Liverpool and those living on the streets are facing a life threatening couple of months.
Crisis Skylight in Merseyside are asking people to stop ignoring homelessness and open up the conversation.
The homeless charity tell us they're currently working with 230 individuals in Merseyside and are urging the Government to make it easier to access housing by changing policy and unfreezing housing benefits.
Sharron McGuiness is the director for the charity, she tells us that food banks and warm banks cannot become the norm: "For those people who are out rough sleeping, they're at higher risk of hypothermia, frost bite and because of the health inequalities they're already likely to be suffering respiratory illnessess. It can be life threatening when you're sleeping outside when the temperatures plunge as we've seen over the last couple of days."
"We need to make sure people have got access to hot food and drinks, make sure they've got adequate clothing and if we know that people are sleeping outdoors we need to make sure we connect them to the right services to help get them indoors particularly when the temperatures plummet as they have been doing."
"We need a plan to be put in place to deliver the social homes that we're crying out for to make sure that people have got access to warm and safe homes throughout the winter but also throughout the year."
"We ask people to be vigilant and if you see somebody who is outdoors who looks like they're about to sleep rough, do what you feel comfortable with and offer hot food and drink,"
To find out more about how you can support or find out more about the campaign, you can visit their website https://www.crisis.org.uk/