Homeless charity’s plea for help providing PPE
them in places they’re required.
“We work with around 50 people who face homelessness every day at our hub and provide residential support to 100 people in our housing projects, but we also meet many rough sleepers on the street as part of our Outreach service, and we want to ensure that they have access to face coverings.
“This will mean that they can go into a shop to get food, can use public transport to access services, be able to receive medical treatment and will keep them safe from the risk of infection.”
Edmund says around 50 masks are needed for distribution to the individuals Petrus works with every week, with the intention that service users and rough sleepers who receive them will be able to wash them for free using the charity’s laundry services at the hub.
He added that the onset of lockdown had seen the charity not just needing to support those on the streets, but also those facing the insecurity of temporary accommodation.
He said: “Homelessness doesn’t end because there’s a pandemic. In fact, when lockdown was introduced and we were told to stay at home, those without anywhere to call home were greatly impacted.
“At the height of lockdown, we faced an increase in the number of phone calls we were receiving as concerns around housing and health rose.
“Our team would regularly provide support and advice around accessing housing, help with benefits and utilities, and mental health. We also saw a rise in supporting people who we’d previously not had contact with, such as those in temporary accommodation and we provided support around rehousing options.”
He added: “For everybody [the pandemic] has meant a lot of change. But it has been especially challenging for people experiencing homelessness, as it became difficult to access their usual support network and services.
“But we worked to keep our vital services running throughout this time.”
Petrus worked together with Rochdale council as part of the Everyone In scheme, an intervention which saw an estimated more than 5,400 people being offered accommodation in hotels, hostels and B&Bs after councils were given £3.2m by the government in March to support the initiative, which has been called ‘life-saving’ by national homelessness charity St Mungo’s.
Other regular programmes run by Petrus did have to temporarily stop during lockdown, such as its outreach support service - although this has recently been able to resume safely.
Its normally open-door hub on Great George Street is now open by appointment to offer services including bathing and laundry facilities, counselling services and a range of wellbeing activities.
Its community store on Hamer Lane, which raises funds for its work, remains closed - although the team there has continued working to provide furniture to people and families in crisis - and its community allotment PIER (Petrus Incredible Edibles Rochdale), which offers volunteering opportunities and a communal garden space for service users, is also closed.
The charity’s support workers have turned to phone calls, texts and socially distanced checkups as tools for keeping in touch with and offering support to service users and residents of its housing projects.
Staff working in other areas of the charity have also been redeployed to help continue the provision of its free morning breakfasts to rough sleepers, which has adapted from originally being a dine-in operation before lockdown to a takeaway service available from Monday to Friday.
The hub’s communal kitchen has become a space for preparing more hot meals for those in need, and 2,500 of them were prepared and delivered to people facing homelessness in the first nine weeks of lockdown.
Now more than four months on from the start of lockdown, and with a recent spike in Rochdale’s infection rate and the news on Friday that all of Greater Manchester would be subjected to additional restrictions, the impact of coronavirus promises that people everywhere will face a summer unlike any they would have anticipated.
However the changing of seasons itself brings additional risks for the homeless and a new number of essential items with it.
Petrus says that over the years, the hotter weather during the summer months has seen people come to them suffering from heat exhaustion or with blisters on their face and arms as they are unable to seek shelter on bright days.
Sonia Denham, head of Petrus, said: “Here in the UK, the sun is at its strongest from March to October between 11am and 3pm - you can even get sunburn on a cloudy day.
“It can take as little as being outside for 15 minutes before your skin can start to burn.
“Imagine then how it can be for people living on the streets, with no homes to return to and no shelter from the sun.
“As many of us will know, sunburn is not only uncomfortable, but it can increase your risk of skin cancer.
“People living on the streets will likely not have the same opportunities to treat sunburn, like taking a cool shower or drinking plenty of water.”
In addition to its appeal for mask donations, Petrus is also appealing to residents to help them provide another kind of protective gear, which includes suncream, hats and water.
The appeal on Petrus’ website reads: “The best way to protect yourself from getting sunburn is through things like suncream, a hat, sunglasses, suitable clothing and water - again, for rough sleepers these aren’t easy to access.”
Workers from the charity will be handing out essential items such as suncream and water to rough sleepers over the warmer months.
But the additional resources and supplies involved in this and other aspects of the ways they have adapted their work during lockdown, such as extra food and containers for the free meal takeaway service, have necessitated a call for financial support.
Members of the public can donate the cost of a much needed face mask, or any other amount, at www.tinyurl.com/ petruscommunity.
Individuals and local businesses who can support the charity with a donation of masks or summer essentials like suncream are asked to get in touch with the Petrus team on 01706 526289 to arrange drop off at the hub at 73 Great George Street.