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Green councillors have welcomed the announcement that 20 additional emergency beds will be provided for rough sleepers this winter, following a Green motion which was tabled at a Full Council meeting last week. These initial emergency beds will be provided in conjunction with St Mungo’s Broadway.
Over 12,000 people have also signed a petition calling on the council to open empty buildings.
A rough sleeping task force has been set up to address the problem and has also identified four properties that could be used safely for homeless people who are waiting for other accommodation to become available.
Leader of the Green councillors, Ani Stafford-Townsend said:
“I am delighted that the council has reacted positively to calls for more emergency provision for those who are facing cold nights sleeping in doorways. While short term accommodation is essential to get people off the streets; we also need to do more to address the underlying problems that lead to homelessness in our communities.”
“Homeless people need support to move on to stable accommodation and help with tacking the underlying problems that have led to them sleeping on the streets. We need to make sure that homelessness organisations that do such invaluable work helping homeless people are also given the funding and support they need.”
“Man sleeping on Canadian sidewalk” by The Blackbird (Jay Black) – Flickr. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Commons
