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Rough sleeper shelters will open on every sub-zero day, Khan announces
Emergency weather shelters for rough sleepers will be open on every day where temperatures fall below zero, the mayor of London has announced.
The ‘No one needs to sleep rough in London’ campaign has replaced the previous policy of opening shelters when three consecutive days of freezing temperatures were forecast, and will run for two months.
The policy change came as Sadiq Khan joined forces for the first time with the London Homeless Charities Group, a coalition of 18 homeless charities that has created a single donation point for funds to tackle homelessness in the capital.
Mr Khan announced the policy during a visit to a new permanent hub in Hackney for the No Second Night Out service, towards which the mayor is contributing £5m of funding. The service aims to provide a rapid response to the needs of new rough sleepers and aims to prevent them from spending a second night on the streets.
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In 2016/17, the total number of people seen sleeping rough in London was 8,108, an increase of 12 people compared to the previous year. But more than double the number of people are sleeping rough this year compared to 2010/11, when 3,975 people were on the streets.
Mr Khan said he wanted to do more to help those sleeping rough.
He said: “We’ve already started to make progress in London, but it’s still shocking that so many people in our city feel they have no choice but to sleep on the streets. We must continue to take action because one person sleeping rough is always one too many.”
Denise Hatton, chief executive of YMCA England and Wales, said: “It should be unimaginable that anyone has to spend a single night sleeping rough in this country. Homelessness is the major issue of our time, which is why 18 charities have come together to form the London Homeless Charities Group, bringing together expertise across the sector to end rough sleeping and homelessness in the capital for good.”
