As the weather gets colder, people’s thoughts often turn to those having to sleep outside and find out what they can do to help. This year Mendip District Council is delivering a new rough sleepers service so we wanted to catch up with the new Outreach Workers at Mendip to find out more about what they do.
Becci Miller has been the Senior Assertive Outreach Worker since April and heads up a small team who are out every morning at 6am to find rough sleepers following up the reports that come from colleagues, members of the public and Streetlink. The team has coffee and hot chocolate ready to help smooth out that early conversation and then the work begins to try to help that person.
The benefit of having the team working within the council itself is that the outreach workers can carry out a fully joined up service with the housing options team, who are trained in housing law and use the same systems. Every winter there is a count of rough sleepers across the county to assess if the situation is worsening.
Becci said “Prevention is the focus of the government’s new rough sleeping strategy. We know that rough sleepers are the tip of the iceberg because there are many hidden homeless too. But these figures are hard to quantify because so many people won’t even approach the council. Part of our job is reconnecting people who are rough sleeping here back to locations they came from when that’s outside the Mendip area. We are aware of a high proportion arriving to newly sleep on the street in Mendip who were not previously living here prior to sleeping rough.”
“Covid has taught us so much – Everyone In, banning evictions, it’s all possible. It was an incredible time, seeing nobody on the streets. It’s so sad to see people sleeping rough again.”
Becci talked about the importance of people registering on Homefinder to express an interest in social housing where eligible, even if they think they are a low priority. This helps the council to monitor the numbers of people in housing need. .
When it’s very cold for a prolonged period, SWEP comes into force. SWEP is the Severe Weather Emergency Protocol and the local authority must provide shelter for rough sleepers to prevent death. Bed and Breakfast accommodation is used by Mendip rather than a hostel or dormitory style shelter. Becci said “Many rough sleepers have complex needs and it’s more respectful to give people their own space and privacy.”
She went on “Covid has taught us so much – Everyone In, banning evictions, it’s all possible. It was an incredible time, seeing nobody on the streets. It’s so sad to see people sleeping rough again.”
Mendip’s Rough Sleeping Initiative and Housing Options teams told us “We are working hard with partners to prevent rough sleeping and to help people who find themselves rough sleeping to find solutions as quickly as possible. If any resident in Mendip is concerned they might be at risk of rough sleeping they should contact the Housing Options team for urgent advice and assistance on 0300 3030 8588.”
If you are concerned about anyone sleeping rough, you should alert the council via Streetlink, and you may have seen the signs around Frome which give the phone number too 0300 500 0914. You can also contact the team directly on outreach@mendip.gov.uk.