Liverpool's Whitechapel Centre is preparing for the winter months Liverpool's leading homeless charity is "bracing itself" for the winter period, which poses a "significant risk to life" for those sleeping rough on the city's streets. The Whitechapel Centre is keeping "a close eye" on the situation as the government releases thousands of prisoners early, potentially putting further strain on the work it does. The charity's Services Manager Sophie Mayor says they've seen "a drop in funding" while she claims " rough sleeping has increased to an all time high", with the centre aware of 178 individuals on the streets in August.
Speaking to the ECHO, she said: “We always brace ourselves coming into the winter. Winter poses significant risk to life and cold weather can kill people who are sleeping on the streets. We do start preparing early for what it’s going to look like.
The provisions we have in place over winter time can vary from year to year based on intelligence we’re getting in the lead up to that period. “Last year, for example, the Home Office accelerated the asylum decision process, meaning that a lot of people were going through the asylum process a lot quicker and therefore getting decisions a lot quicker. That meant that the Home Office accommodation that they were staying in would no longer be available.
So we had a lot of people who were newly granted refugees that were becoming homeless. Because of that intelligence, we knew we had to put things in place to deal with the predicted increase." She added: “That has slowed down now - I think they must have got through the lion’s share of the backlog of applications.
So we’re not expecting it to be exactly the same as last year but the latest thing to happen now is the early releases from prisons. We’re monitoring that situation very closely and we will be reviewing, on a weekly basis, in the run up to winter, what the homelessness presentations look like for those who are leaving prison earlier than expected." Sophie went into more detail about the measures which the Whitechapel Centre put in place during the winter, in order to combat risk to rough sleepers.
She said: “Winter is very concerning. We do a lot more in terms of donation drives around this time of year and we will need a lot more supplies like warm clothing and appropriate footwear because living on the streets can severely affect your physical health as well as your mental health. "Having the luxury of being able to go inside after being out in the rain and take your shoes off and dry out is not a reality for a lot of people living on the streets.
It can do a lot of damage to your feet and that’s just one example of the physical health difficulties people can experience. Good quality shoes are something that we really need." Sophie also went spoke about SWEP - or Severe Weather Emergency Protocol - which is a measure used across the country.
She continued: “SWEP happens in hot weather too, but its main purpose is for freezing temperatures. In Liverpool, if the weather is predicted to go 3C or lower, we then activate SWEP, in conjunction with Liverpool City Council and our hostel providers in the city. "We open up sit-up spaces in hostels.
There’s not beds necessarily, but a room with a chair and facilities so you’re able to actually get inside. We also have additional bed and breakfast places that we book in advance. We utilise SWEP to preserve life but that’s only a temporary solution and it’s the real work that goes into intensive planning for individuals which is also very important.
" Speaking about the charity's day-to-day operations, Sophie said: “Our outreach services operate 24/7. It’s quite a large team and they have a rota system. They go out on an early morning sweep each day.
They do a sweep of the city centre which, in Liverpool, is where the majority of rough sleeping is concentrated. There are pockets of rough sleeping in the outer areas too, and they will respond to those cases afterwards. “They will try to engage with people who they find as best they can.
That intelligence is then brought back to the team in the office. Evidence is compiled of who’s been seen rough sleeping and a plan will be devised for each person. We’ll also look at what might have led to them becoming homeless on that particular day - although we’ll be familiar with a lot of people already.
She added: “The majority of the work after the intelligence gathering is case work and finding solutions for people by working with the local authority and working with hostel providers to try to get people inside and off the streets. Ideally, we would work in a very person-centred way, giving people the choice of where they want to live and things like that. “However, we are in a housing crisis across the country and so choices are fairly limited in that respect.
There are long waiting lists for things like hostels. We do have an amazing quick turnaround hostel in Liverpool which is for people who are rough sleeping to go straight inside and stay there on a temporary basis to stabilise and recover from the trauma of sleeping on the streets. They should then move on to mainstream hostels but it’s not happening as quickly as we’d like because there is a lack of housing to move into after hostels.
" Speaking about what she thinks can help the situation, Sophie said: “I think we need a really comprehensive review of the social housing stock which we have, as well as looking at vacant properties, and planning not just for the short-term but the long term for genuinely fulfilling promises to create more homes which are affordable. Too many times we see that those targets aren’t met and it’s the people at the bottom of the list that suffer. We know that rough sleeping creates huge problems for the NHS so affordable housing would have a knock on effect for many different aspects of the economy.
" The Whitechapel Centre needs as much help as possible to tackle the challenges of winter. You can donate financially via their website by clicking here . There is also a volunteer program, which you can find out more about here .
If you or someone you know is struggling with homelessness, you can call the charity on 0300 123 2041..
