In from the cold

The big freeze of the last few weeks led to an extraordinary period of intensive activity by organisations working with rough sleepers. In London, extra emergency shelter provision was made available, faith groups opened up church halls and spaces were found in bed and breakfasts. Thames Reach’s outreach teams were able to help more than 250 people find a way off the street.

A crisis of this type creates opportunities. Encouraging people to come inside is often a thankless task for outreach workers. Some entrenched rough sleepers routinely turn down every offer and elect to live on the street, despite exhibiting worrying signs of physical and mental deterioration. The cold snap has brought inside men and women previously impervious to every attempt made. The aim must be to find a way for them to move into more settled accommodation.

This is no mean task. Rough sleepers with the most complex needs are often the ones most reluctant to access the larger hostels.

They frequently need a place in a smaller, high support project and sometimes a tailored package of care. Councils in London have admirably relaxed the usual restrictions requiring a local link to widen access to hostels for a selected group of the most entrenched rough sleepers. We should now build on this by opening up a greater range of provision, bypassing normal referral procedures and even agreeing jointly funded care packages for a small group of people who in every way embody the term ‘socially excluded’.

It would be heartbreaking to see people return to their shop doorway to continue their inexorable physical and mental decline. The impressive humane response to the inclement weather now needs a second stage before we can genuinely say - job done.

Jeremy Swain is chief executive of Thames Reach