Morley Dad's Mission to Keep Homeless Warm This Winter
More than 8,000 people have now signed a petition to get the city’s empty buildings opened up to homeless people during the winter like they are in Manchester.
Leeds City Council has told us it's currently not planning to look into it though.
Among those calling for it to change its mind is Morley dad Chris Strang, who is heading out this evening armed with gloves, pairs of socks and flasks of tea and coffee to help those on the streets keep warm.
He hopes to go several times a week and is encouraging other local people to get involved.
“I lived in Spain for four years, so coming back I’m feeling the cold quite a bit,” he says.
“Nobody knows why people are on the streets and a lot of people look at them and think they’re nobodies. But I don’t believe that anybody is a nobody. The least we can do is treat them to a tea or coffee. And being Yorkshire, tea is quite a big thing isn’t it?
“The more people we can get involved, the better it will be. I mean if everybody put a couple of quid in… it’s nothing is it, you can’t even get a pint of beer for two quid these days, but it can buy a jar of coffee. We’re going to try and do it at least once or twice a week and try and make a few people smile.”
The petition started earlier this month calling for empty buildings to be opened as winter shelters has so far attracted more than 8,300 signatures.
It calls on the council to follow the lead of Ryan Giggs and Gary Neville in Manchester, who helped open the city’s empty buildings to homeless people.
Chris, who runs a handyman business, agrees it’s a good idea:
“I couldn’t imagine being sat and waiting for the nights to come, knowing it’s going to drop to zero degrees and minus 1 degrees. It really is horrible. The more people we can get involved, the more we can help out as much as we can.
“Obviously we can’t give them a house or a job, but we can give a bit of money here and there and try and help them the best we can.
“We don’t know the backgrounds of people and we don’t know where they’ve come from, and I don’t think you can judge anybody until you know the ins and outs of how they got there.”
In a statement, Leeds City Council told us it does have lots of support in place to accommodate homeless people, with extra spaces available during the cold weather.
“We’ve got a comprehensive package of support in place to accommodate homeless people regardless of the weather,” says Councillor Debra Coupar, executive member for communities.
“However, when the cold does bite, additional spaces are available. Working with our partners, and with patrols for rough sleepers, this approach has proven sufficient to meet needs.
“With no one being turned away due to lack of provision during cold spells, we have no plans to look at alternatives or house people in empty buildings. Our focus remains on preventing homelessness in the first place, offering support to people to find long-term solutions to suit their needs.”
Leeds City Council says it has signed up to the government protocol for accommodating homeless people in severe weather: that all homeless people are offered accommodation when the temperature is forecast to fall below zero degrees for two nights in succession, until the temperature rises above zero
According to council statistics, there were 15 rough sleepers in Leeds this time last year.