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here are three elements covered by the grant: a social worker and six flats to house single, long-term rough sleepers and the rough sleeper hub which is run by leading homeless charity, St Mungo’s. The rough sleeper hub in Willesden opened in October and is able to house up to 11 people at any one time with two bed spaces for women. It provides seven-days-a week support from professionals working with the Brent Outreach Team. Clients may be people who are sleeping on the streets, people due for discharge from hospital but have nowhere to go, or people coming out of prison. “If there is space in the hub, we aim to have a person brought in the same day,” said Lauretta O’Sullivan, St Mungo’s service development manager. “All our clients must be over 18, and there are two bed spaces for women, which are separate from the main hub to ensure that they feel as safe as possible when coming into this service. “We also have four allocated spaces for people with no recourse to public funds; people who are not from the UK. The aim is
to support these people into employment, or to reconnect with their home country if they so wish, and if that is the best option available to them.” The six flats across the borough have been allocated to people who may have experienced a complicated mix of poor mental and physical health, alcohol and drug problems, and childhood trauma. People in these six flats will be given a 12 month introductory tenancy that could be extended to five years. The properties provide long-term safe and stable accommodation for people who are working towards their recovery from homelessness. “These new services have already helped nine people off the streets between August and November this year,” said Cllr Eleanor Southwood, Cabinet Member for Housing and Welfare Reform. “The flats and the hub are providing practicalways to help rough sleepers in Brent and support people who
If you spot someone sleeping rough in Brent ... ... you can help by contacting the national referral service StreetLink at www.streetlink.org.uk and leaving details. These will then be passed on to the Brent outreach team, who refer into this hub.
find themselves without a roof over the head to improve their health and long-term opportunities.” The council has also recruited a social worker to work closely with the Brent Outreach Team, going out on the streets to meet people sleeping rough and offering them mental health assessments.
London stats Of the people seen sleeping rough in London in 2017-18, 50% were tackling mental health problems, 43% were tackling alcohol problems and 40% were tackling drug problems. 7,484 people were seen rough sleeping in London in 2017-18 WINTER 2018/2019
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