Preston charity calls for homeless support extension to avoid post-pandemic surge in rough sleepers
Thousands of homeless people have been provided emergency accommodation over the pandemicThousands of homeless people have been provided emergency accommodation over the pandemic
Political leaders and charities are warning more people could be forced onto the streets if the government doesn’t extend their support for the homeless.
The government has pledged to end rough sleeping by 2024 and experts warn it must continue the principles and funding of the ‘Everyone In’ initiative or face a post-pandemic surge in the number of people sleeping on the streets.
Jeff Marsh runs Preston homeless charity The Foxton Centre, he said they've seen a lot of benefits from the support over the pandemic: "Rough sleeping figures in Preston are half what they were at their worst. We've moved 40 people through from being rough sleeping into emergency accommodation and then into longer term settled accommodation which is fantastic. The success rate for those people in that accommodation is something like 85%.
"One guy who spent the best part of 20 years on the streets who came into our emergency accommodation and we managed to secure a flat for him through our Community Gateway programme. Sadly he died of natural causes, but we were really pleased with the progress he made. He made contact with his family again, with his daughter, these sorts of things you can't put a price on.
"They're our brothers, they're our sisters, they're our children and parents, out there on the streets...it's tragic to think of that. When you sit and talk to these people they're just ordinary people who are just dealing with extraordinary difficulties but there are kind of deep mental health trauma issues that people are dealing with all the time that make it really difficult for them to survive."
The calls also come from a group of political leaders, experts from the health, housing and homelessness sectors and people with lived experience, which have today published the first of two reports examining the response to homelessness and rough sleeping during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Kerslake Commission on Homelessness and Rough Sleeping chaired by the former head of the civil service Lord Bob Kerslake, has concluded the Government needs to maintain the additional funding that it made available during the pandemic – equating to £82m a year on top of its previous spending commitment - if it is to have any chance of achieving its pre-election promise to end rough sleeping by the end of this parliament.
According to Government estimates, at least 37,000 people were provided with a Covid-secure place to stay, along with access to health and other support services. The policy has been credited as having saved hundreds of lives.
Commission Chair, Lord Kerslake, said: “The Covid-19 pandemic has been the biggest peacetime emergency this country has faced. It has impacted on every single one of our lives and taken a heavy toll, particularly on the most vulnerable.
“There will be many lessons to learn about the response to the pandemic, both from the things that went well and those that didn’t. This Commission is about learning from a policy that, by common consent, did go well – ‘Everyone In’.
“For me, the most important lesson is that with the right combination of Government support and collaboration across, and between, the key service providers, it is possible to end homelessness and rough sleeping.”
He added: “The increased funding made available was an important factor in the success of 'Everyone In'. And we estimate that an extra £82m per annum, or 32% on top of the planned increase in rough sleeping reduction spending, would be needed to maintain and build on the advances that have been made. Which is, I think, a small price to pay when you consider what can be achieved and the lives that could be saved.
“Reducing and preventing rough sleeping and homelessness is both the right thing to do and will reduce subsequent costs and pressures on health and other services.
The Commission’s final report will be published in September and is expected to make an ambitious call for a longer term strategic response based on the principles that underpinned Everyone In.