Helping the homeless during the Covid 19 pandemic

Aim

To help homeless people during the Covid 19 pandemic, to protect them from the virus and prevent them spreading it in the wider community.

Rough sleepers are really vulnerable to the virus as many of them are homeless due to health issues, and 60% suffer some physical health issue. Because they have no home, they circulate widely in the community, being homeless they are unable to self isolate, and therefore they are highly likely to pass the virus on through the wider community.

The Government has tried to put in place measures to accommodate rough sleepers in hostels and hotels on a temporary basis, and my team is helping to do this. 

My outreach team have many years experience working with long term rough sleepers, who are a notoriously difficult group with which to engage. 

We are working with other agencies in Worcester to try to accommodate and support rough sleepers.  As a response to the pandemic we are redirecting our services to support the Government's accommodation programme however there is still a hard core of rough sleepers who will not or cannot be accommodated. Our role in Worcestershire’s response to Government guidance is to work with those that continue to sleep rough. 

We are in touch with these individuals on a daily basis providing support for them to address  their basic needs and  encourage them to move into accommodation. 

We need more workers to help us and we are raising  money to recruit another team member.

This project successfully funded on 22nd July 2020