Winter homeless offered hotel rooms - Camden New Journal
PRIVATE hotel rooms will be offered to rough sleepers in Camden and Westminster this winter, funded by the government – but council leaders have warned it is "not enough" to end homelessness.
Inspired by the pandemic's Everyone In scheme, when all rough sleepers were put up in hotels, Camden and Westminster have secured £28million to build something similar during the winter months.
A third of all people experiencing rough sleeping in London are in Camden or Westminster.
As well as employing a social worker, an extra nurse and a homelessness officer in Camden, the funding will provide 21 beds from November to March in the St Giles Hotel, near Tottenham Court Road. Westminster will get 25 beds.
Those staying in St Giles will be given two meals a day and immigration, health and employment support.
Kay Campion, service manager at the Single Homelessness Project (SHP) who are running the St Giles Project, told the New Journal: "We opened on November 1 and within three days we were full. There's a real demand and even now we have referrals from people who are on the waiting list. It's been really positive."
Those with no recourse to public funds (NRPF) who would otherwise not be able to use local authorities' homelessness support are allowed in. Sixty per cent of rough sleepers in Camden are non-UK nationals with very limited access to public funds.
"We open the doors to everybody," Ms Campion said.
"We have a large number of NRPF people who are given immigration and legal advice. There's been a lot of positive things going on. The challenge will be somebody with NRPF to access a move-on route.
Chris, with Kay Campion
"That's why we are working really hard to make sure those that can work will work and those who can't, we can make a plan to see what we can do."
Tyron Julien, assistant director of services at SHP, said the main aim was to resettle everyone who stays in St Giles into independent accommodation.
He said: "The project is aimed at helping people with low to medium needs because they fall through the gaps of services as they don't meet the threshold for some statutory services but still need support. So far we've resettled 15 people in six weeks. They've all got support workers there to help them."
One of those people is Chris, 68, who now lives in long-term accommodation in Turnpike Lane after staying at the St Giles Project for a month.
He is applying for jobs in accountancy and credit control, having previously run an importing business.
He said: "They saved me. I was sleeping rough for 75 days. Luckily I had a car so I slept there. It sounds silly but I used to park outside the house I used to live in for many years in West Hampstead because I felt comfortable there.
"I got a phone call about St Giles, which was a real blessing because I was getting into a situation where psychologically I was getting worn down.
"Having a roof over my head and having a shower and feeling human again; it was really important. [St Giles] has been wonderful."
Ashley, 28, who is currently staying at St Giles, praised the staff's "high energy" and care.
She used to sleep in train stations around Camden and Westminster after moving to the UK.
"This has really helped me to have some peace of mind. It's been a lot of emotional support," she said.
"I left an abusive situation and being here, it's been amazing, having Kay to talk to and the staff in general are really caring. They do welfare checks on us twice a day.
"Especially it being so private, I feel very comfortable. It was very uncomfortable in the train stations because it was public. I had to get someone to watch my bags and it was a quick rush to use the bathroom and stuff like that."
Council leader Georgia Gould said: "We learnt a huge amount in the pandemic. I visited the Britannia Hotel where we provided onsite nursing and mental health support and we've been trying to deepen that wraparound support across our hostel pathway since then."
But while the project helps deal with homelessness this winter, Ms Gould said it doesn't treat the root cause: a lack of affordable housing in London.
She added: "What we're seeing here is the acute end of a massive housing crisis. If you want to end it you need to build council housing across the country, you need to be bringing in better regulation of the private rental sector, you need to lift the housing benefit cap and reform the welfare system. You need to do all of those things to end the issue in our community.
"In the short-term, increasing the number of rooms that people have to start to build their lives from is a great start."
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