Helping hand New hubs for homeless visited by over 100
HOMELESS hubs set up in Gloucestershire to help rough sleepers get off the streets have seen more than 100 people use them since they opened in March.
The hubs, located in central Gloucester and central Cheltenham, were created with a £950,000 cash injection from the Government as part of its £100 million rough sleeping strategy.
They are staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week to provide a safe environment away from the street for homeless people.
Since the homeless hubs opened in March, they have seen 128 people walk through their doors.
The staff provide a “sit up” service where they will rapidly assess a person’s needs and design a personal housing plan.
A “navigator” service is also deployed to comb the area for rough sleepers in need of support.
Since the hubs opened: » 133 people have entered the hubs for support (of which five have been repeat service users)
» 19 have since moved into long-term accommodation, including two social housing tenancies
» 58 have moved to short-term accommodation such as supported housing
» 18 have been reconnected to areas outside the county, where they have accommodation and their strongest support network
Councillor Roger Wilson (C, Winchcombe & Woodmancote), cabinet member for adult social care commissioning at Gloucestershire County Council, said: “The hubs have strengthened the support we have available all year round to help rough sleepers and we can clearly see the benefits they have brought to the county.
“No one should have to sleep on the streets and we are committed to ending rough sleeping. If you spot someone sleeping outside I would encourage you to contact Streetlink online or by using the app.
“This will be sent immediately to the local street outreach team P3, who will try to find the person as quickly as possible and if necessary bring them into one of the hubs where they will receive one-to-one support to develop a personal plan.”
The hubs are delivered by homeless charity P3 (People, Potential, Possibilities).
The majority of referrals to the hubs come in from the P3 outreach team, who are made aware of rough sleepers via Streetlink.
Streetlink is a way for the public to alert support services when they see someone sleeping rough, and is the first step someone can take to ensure rough sleepers are given the support they need. See www.streetlink.org.uk