Engaging with rough sleepers in Gloucester – this man is no longer sleeping on the streets.
Three things I dislike are litter, violence and homelessness.
Litter is about a culture of pride in where we live, and we can all help get this under control. More on this very soon.
Violence is complicated and particularly the hidden violence like domestic abuse, mental coercion and the use of eg social media to undermine reputations. That’s why I’ve focused in toughening or introducing laws on stalking and spiking.
Rough sleeping also covers a raft of different situations, but the basic belief that everyone should be able to sleep with a roof over their head, and should not need to sleep in a sleeping bag on the street or shop doorway is fundamental to life in Britain.
There has been a creeping increase in rough sleeping around the city centre recently, and some weeks ago I was concerned that not enough action was being taken to address it.
So I did a walkabout with the business sponsored City Protection Officers (CPOs) to meet, listen to and understand the situations of everyone we met in the Gate streets and then to talk to different agencies and individuals about what was being done to help move rough sleepers off the streets and into accommodation.
Discussing issues on our high street with the CPOs
The bottom line is that rough sleeping is bad for the individual and bad for the city.
Rough sleeping is not good for physical or mental health: it does nothing for anyone's wellbeing, let alone finding purpose in life.
A regular rough sleeping cohort in the Gates also risks putting off new investors which may prevent new shops, investment and jobs. It also turns off students from coming to study here: and visitors from seeing our city.
This led to me calling a housing summit involving Rooftop, the NHS and Bromford. We agreed that we’d all work together to find solutions for those actually or potentially rough sleeping.
I’ve since again met with organisations involved in housing, including the City Council, P3, the Diocese, City Mission, Housing Associations and others like the modular housing company MMC to discuss what can be done.
Rough Sleeping is bad for the individual and bad for the city - all these rough sleepers have moved
There are lots of things happening to try to help rough sleepers including:
- The Council’s Temporary Accommodation Acquisition Programme which will increase the stock of temporary housing
- Looking at what housing associations may consider surplus accommodation
- Identifying sites in the GCH estate that could be re-developed
- Getting planning permission for 6 new module housing units the Diocese owns
- Improving dialogue between PCOs, City Council and police
- Making sure P3 has the support needed to fulfil its mandate
There is no quick silver bullet, and those who don’t want to live with others and have little motivation to work are a challenge.
There has to be a strong partnership of organisations working together to find solutions to help move people into accommodation, but it is complicated. Often the system already knows who is rough sleeping and nearly all have been given places to stay.
Since the Summit and follow up conversations by my Chief of Staff Jennie Watkins and I, we have made some good progress. The situation on our Gate streets is already better, and I’m grateful to those involved.
But there is always more to do, and I welcome a review by Gloucester City Council of the services and support for individuals rough sleeping.
Meanwhile, if you do see someone sleeping out, or suspect they are, then please report to Street Link: Tell us about someone sleeping rough - StreetLink (thestreetlink.org.uk)
Do let me know what you think at [email protected]
Best regards
