Newham Council has today responded to a report by housing charity Shelter, which describes Newham as having 1 in 24 people homeless.
Councillor John Gray, Newham Council’s lead member for housing and deputy Mayor, said: “Since this administration came into office in May 2018, addressing the challenges created by the government’s housing crisis has been a key priority.
“Considerable work has been done in this area and for the first time in a decade, Newham has a dedicated Homelessness and Rough Sleeper Strategy which has the support of Shelter and compassion and care at its core.
“We are directing significant resources to deal with the crisis and are set to spend an additional £1.4m per year to improve services supporting rough sleepers and creating preventative measures to reduce the risk of others becoming homeless. To increase housing supply, we are increasing the number of genuinely affordable social rented homes with plans to build at least 1,000 in place with building work already under way. We are also looking at providing our own supply of quality temporary accommodation so we are not reliant on private landlords.
“We face enormous challenges in Newham with a shortage of social rented property, high private rents and benefit changes pushing more residents into homelessness. With the raft of measures already implemented and working with partners and the community, we are determined to drastically improve the current situation and reduce the threat of homelessness facing some of our most vulnerable residents.”
Measures introduced to reduce street homelessness include:
- A significant expansion of the street outreach team (from 2 to 10). This new team has been working with the rough sleeping community to gather an evidence based picture of needs, find solutions and engage with rough sleepers to develop pathways away from the streets.
- The team has recently mounted a concerted engagement operation with rough sleepers in the area around the Stratford Centre where a large number of tents appeared over the summer. As a result 13 people have been placed in emergency accommodation; 13 have been assessed for health and other needs, and 19 tents removed (with weekly street cleaning, and two deep cleaning operations undertaken). Overall 52 rough sleepers were accommodated in November
- Day service provision for homeless people expanded from 4 days a week to 5.
- Funding of a 20-bed high needs rough sleeper unit at Caritas Anchor House in Canning Town.
- A new temporary 25-bed assessment hub has been set up to allow rough sleepers to begin the journey off the streets, with needs like health, money and immigration advice, addiction and mental health support available under one roof. Newham Council is supporting a Christmas shelter for rough sleepers, run by Stratford Seventh Day Adventist Church, and the Docklands Settlements, to offers shelter, food and companionship over the festive period.