'We need to do more to help the homeless in extreme weather'
A Torbay homeless charity says the focus during storms is often on roads and damage - not people
Last updated 27th Nov 2024
There’s calls for the SWEP system - which sees homeless people taken off the streets during severe weather like last week’s snow - to be enhanced and extended.
Greatest Hits Radio has learnt some homeless people weren’t told SWEP - or the severe weather emergency protocol - was being extended and ended up sleeping outside during Storm Bert's strong winds and heavy rain.
Over the weekend Torbay Council kept its SWEP system under review - extending it once on Saturday morning and then again until Monday morning.
Kath Friedrich, who founded PATH or People Assisting Torbay's Homeless, says the extension messages were not cirulated widely enough and led to confusion.
She said: "It's so up and down and so reliant on the powers that be to make that decision whether you are 'gratefully' accomodated in some capacity or other during the worst weather.
"The storm at the weekend was absolutely horrific and there's been all sorts of damage but why is it that as a society we are putting the emphasis on things that get damaged and not people?
"There's talk about roofs coming down, trees coming down and since when has a tree taken a priority over a human being? Where's all the mention about all the rough sleepers who had to suffer outside?"
At the moment it's down to different local authorities how they impliment SWEP - with most mainly using it when temperatures fall below zero for three consecutive days. Kath believes more efforts should be made by all local authorities throughout the year to find accomodation for entrenched homeless people - by extending the duty to offer help and getting more people off the streets more regularly, much like the policy during the height of the pandemic.
Kath says she worries there's currently no routine overnight accomodation being offered to entrenched homeless people in Torbay - which in the past had used places like churches.
This week Torbay Council published its latest budget proposals, which includes £100,000 towards 'preventing homelessness with a focus on helping people to maintain stable, sustainable, self-funded housing through the right targeted intervention'.
Devon County Council said it responded to 600 highway-related incidents during Storm Bert, including trees blocking roads with up to 30 teams - including highways emergency response crews, tree surgeons and other specialists - working to respond to issues.
The charity Path runs Torbay's biggest foodbank, supporting around 250 people daily and also assists in signposting and support.
Torbay Council has published its support for the homeless here as well as its SWEP policy.