Vital homeless do not end up back on the streets

LEICESTER City Council and a number of charities moved quickly in the early stages of the coronavirus crisis to provide decent and safe accommodation and ongoing support for the city’s homeless.

More than 500 people, including rough sleepers and sofa-surfers as well as those who had been staying in dormitory-style shelters which became impractical under the lockdown restrictions, were set up in temporary or, in some cases, permanent homes.

However, as winter approaches, those working in the sector fear the pressure to find decent accommodation will rise again as some drift back to the streets or fall into destitution through loss of work or, possibly, eviction.

They are working now to ensure some good comes out of the pandemic.

The government told councils to find and provide accommodation for any rough sleepers or homeless people when the coronavirus pandemic broke out.

Once people had been placed in accommodation, city mayor Sir Peter Soulsby told the Mercury he was determined to make sure homeless people in temporary accommodation would not simply end up back on the streets when the crisis passed.

Action Homeless, a leading charity in the field, agrees that is now the priority.

Chief executive Mark Grant said: “We realised very quickly we needed to get people off the streets because they would be vulnerable and at risk – and we all managed to do that.

“But the reality is we have not turned off the tap on homelessness.

“There is an economic effect of Covid-19 and we will continue to see the impact of that on people.

“We’ve not seen any evictions over the past six months but there will be people in rent arrears and, we assume, normal service will be resumed at some point and we will again see people losing their homes.

Another charity working at the sharp end of the problem is Help the Homeless Leicester and UK.

Arif Voraji, pictured, one of the group’s founders, said: “The city council accommodated everyone in accordance with the Government’s guidelines.

“We have worked with the council and others. That’s the only way forward – together we make the difference.

“We then did what we could to ensure those people had enough food.