Rough sleeping in London

Please make provision for rough sleeping people by giving them priority  over those who can afford accommodation when allocating houses to people. 

I already posted some of this comment in the other discussion (confusing!) but thought I would add it here with the additional comment that I don’t think it is ultimately down to individuals or charities to solve the problem of homelessness  as it just papers over the cracks and allows the government, national especially since local authorities are so under-funded, to skip their responsibilities. Any non-governmental response has to be carefully calibrated so as to avoid this. It is far too common to individualise issues that are systemic - just look at the idea of the individual carbon footprint invented and promoted by the fossil fuel industries to shift responsibility for the climate crisis onto individuals rather than governments and business.  As said in the other discussion, the key issues for me in homelessness are the systemic ones of lack of social housing, lack of private sector rent controls, plus lack of support for mental health and addiction issues. Importantly, homelessness has a public cost too, in terms of policing, provision of homelessness services such as they are, pressures on the health and social services through health and addiction issues, and the negative impact on a civic environment already degraded through lack of public investment - let alone the human and economic cost of damaged lives unable to make their own contribution to society. I would like to see the accounting of these existing costs to the public purse before this society and/or government decides it is too costly to help the homeless. 

I would support Compulsory Purchase of empty property if empty for more than 1 year, and the use of these as homes for the homeless. I support rough sleeper initiatives as in Haringey to help people with drug and alcohol problems, and provide liason workers and halfway houses. I donate to Shelter as help is given to people when in a vulnerable housing situation to avoid homelessness. I support housing construction targets to build more council rent and affordable homes and so reduce the general cost of housing in the UK. I support the stopping of no fault evictions and am in favour of rent controls to avoid these causing homelessness. I am in favour of stopping the discounted sale of council houses to tenants as these properties have overwhelmingly ended up in being rented at much higher rents than council rents.

I think we should give money directly to homeless people as those i speak to say service are either inadequate or nonexistent but mainly the later. There needs to be a matchmaking system that allows people to take rough sleepers in temporarily. Vetted on both sides and contracted.

Council houses that are occupied by people who can afford to rent or buy. Fix up empty council houses/homes. Build hotels like to accommodate rough sleeping! Assist people on benefits more often, plenty abusing the system. Make council tenants keep there home tidy or fine them.
Stop immigration and free loaders, charity begins at home!! 
Stop beggars!! 

This survey makes little mention of government responsibility. The government and only the government can end rough sleeping. Sadiq Khan should be demanding that the government takes action instead of just supporting charity work.   

I know this is controversial and contradicts all the other comments here, but I think rough sleepers should either be prosecuted for vagrancy as Parliament has mandated, or sectioned where appropriate. If I were homeless, I would not live in one of the most expensive cities in the world - I would move to small town, get a minimum wage job or the unemployment benefit, and rent a room in a cheap flat. A choice not to do this is a choice to be homeless and should not be the concern of the authorities. 

Across the world, the population of cities are rising. By 2043 the population of London is expected to reach 9.8 million people, an increase of 550,000 people when compared with 2025. (Statista)

People are moving from their small village in the unknown to the big global city - economic forces? Definitely! And urban planners, architects, strategists, anthropologists are being more and more asked to put their minds together to find new ways of organising the space, the living, the life of this and future generations.

Gentrification is a reality that shaped London, it happens today and will continue tomorrow. Urban development affects everyone, often as a result of urban renewal programs, including real estate investment. How can we connect with our neighbours or demand affordable housing when large companies with an upscale and specialized workforce move into our area? I live in Bromley. 

Who has the social interest in their strategies for London to decommodify and remove housing and other urban resources from the free market, so as to limit the influence of profit-seeking developers and landlords, and to prioritise community needs over market forces?

Are there interests and plans at a high level to cascade the responsibility to the Boroughs /Councils & people to get them involved in creating shared ownership and management of resources like public spaces, community gardens, or even housing stock, where residents have a collective say in decision-making?

I'm sure there are. 

Then, how can this be planned for the long term so that the implemented policies can significantly limit market forces in housing and limit the resistance from developers and some policymakers for the next (think) centuries?

And, most importantly, how can we make communities to self-sustain themselves and support their resources to effectively manage and maintain common spaces and housing stock?

I'm wondering about all the empty buildings in London and whether some of those could be used for rough sleepers, at least through the winter. It seems wrong to see people on the streets when there are so many empty buildings about. There was a campaign I read about a while ago about how flats that are empty for more than 6 months of the year should be forced to allow homeless people to live there, but at the very least we could allow them to use empty shops and office spaces that aren't currently rented out.

Homeless people and rough sleepers need to be humanised.  Our culture has almost normalised the fact that there are human beings living on the streets, and it’s all too easy for people to just put their head down and walk past them and continue going about their day.  

The general public needs more education on how they can proactively help those who are homeless / sleeping rough.  Cost of living has made it prohibitive for some people to be able to help financially and that might be all that they think they can do to support, and so they do nothing. 

The cost of living crisis and the hateful anti-immigration rhetoric that is currently so pervasive in our society is also increasing the ideology of only looking after ‘number 1’ and blaming the ills of society on those less fortunate.

Streetlink is a great resource but I’m not sure how many people are aware of it.  Also it used to be very user friendly via an app, but that doesn’t seem to be the case any more.

I think we really need to invest way more in developing new and maintaining good quality social housing. As well as better fund the NHS. It'll take time but addressing the root causes would save so much more and be much more effective in the long run.

Navigating modern life is so difficult. The sheer number of agencies, institutions, services, etc etc makes just existing overwhelming sometimes. The mental barrier is huge.

Provide a single point for those sleeping rough to work with. To go further, also provide this for those at risk of becoming the next rough sleepers.

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She’s since been staying at various hostels, courtesy of donations, spent one night outside in cold weather and about a week’s worth of nights in a toilet cubicle.

The vindictiveness of some civil servants knows no bounds. So my advice is to support staff well, also with coaching/psychological counselling because seeing other people’s homelessness makes many people feel vulnerable. Make sure that staff have no reason to feel tempted to abuse people who are homeless or on the verge of homelessness. 

I also recommend ensuring that rough sleepers are not forced to traverse London all the time and for example first have to apply for shelter each night at one office in the afternoon and later that day go to some other place again if they are allowed into a shelter that night, the way it is done in Amsterdam. Homelessness is physically exhausting; there is no need to add to that burden.

In addition, I respectfully suggest that you give rough sleepers free or seriously discounted public transport passes. 

The generally accepted myth that homeless people are drug addicts or alcoholics or have schizophrenia is a mere myth. Homelessness is more frequently the result of people simply having had less income than they needed to cover even their most basic expenses. 

Then there is the issue of no-fault evictions, also known as Section 21 Notices. After Labour won the most recent election and took over government, Labour was finally going to ban those which the Conservatives first promised to do when Theresa May was PM if I recall correctly and still had not accomplished. When is Labour finally going to stop emulating the Conservatives?

 

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What follows is an example of how NOT to approach rough sleeping along with a few pointers.

I am a Dutch citizen with settled status in the UK. I attended the State of London debate in 2019 but I am not based in London; I am just interested in what is happening there. In 2010, I also visited the London Assembly/Greater London Authority (in session) as part of a community leadership course. 

I am quite embarrassed about how I used to lecture the English about how well the Dutch government takes care of its citizens. That was the case in the past, but it no longer is. 

Here’s what happened in Amsterdam recently. A Dutch citizen in her 60s found herself homeless without income, stayed at a hostel until the last bit of her benefits money ran out, then spent two nights in a car club car and a night out in the cold, in the open. 

A former colleague then collected her and let her stay on the couch in his apartment (already way too crowded as it houses not just him but also his partner, his partner’s three kids and the pregnant fiancé of one of the partner’s kids).

The woman in question has spent most of her life as an adult in the Netherlands in Amsterdam, worked at its tourist office among other things, got her MSc there and started her first business there. Surely the city of Amsterdam would step up for her, she reckoned. 

She dutifully went to a series of appointments, did as told, and was led to believe that on 24 December she would be given access to the emergency cold-weather shelter, be able to apply for basic benefits and be given a so-called registration address (which is an absolute necessity in the Netherlands) and relieve the ex-colleague of the burden of having her occupy the couch. 

Yet on 24 December (!), she was told that she was not eligible for any of that. She quickly set up a GoFundMe; as she was not getting any financial support from the Dutch government, she not only could now, but had to. She was kicked off the couch a few days later. 

Homelessness can happen to anyone. I own my own home with a mortgage, but last year I was in temporary accommodation as the RSL that owns our block is trying to build flats on our homes and has ruined our roof. The RSL then terminated my temporary accommodation, insisting that my home was habitable despite water still flooding into my flat every time it rained and mould growing. I was lucky enough to be able to stay with friends and family, but even if you think you should be safe and secure in your own home, you could end up on the street.

It really made me think about the plight of those without homes and supportive friends and family. It must be so lonely.

I often cycle along Castle Baynard Street under City of London School and you see the tents along the side of the road. It must be so scary living there with only thin fabric to protect you.

Last year we had a young man living in bushes near our home. I chatted with him & contacted Streetlink. It seemed to take a long time before he was able to leave the bushes. The local Salvation Army Centre helped him during the day but nothing available at night. He was threatened by some local residents & had some of his things stolen. 
 

The Winter Shelters offered in our area are all covered by religious groups, all volunteers & this is very commendable but I would like to know how the homeless people manage the rest of the year. During the pandemic accommodation was found, I wish we could have that mass organised push again (I see the 2030 scheme is similar to that but slower). 
 

The housing shortage really needs addressing, we can’t house people permanently without buildings & those buildings need to be of an affordable rent, otherwise the homeless both seen & hidden (sofa surfers) will increase. 
 

In outer London boroughs the homeslessness is there but not in such an obvious way as it is inner London, but it is an issue in cities all over the country & I would like to to see a really big nationwide initiative to tackle it. The phrase “the poor are always with us” has never been truer. 

"I deeply appreciate the commitment and efforts of Mayor Sadiq Khan in tackling the crisis of rough sleeping in London. His proactive approach, from increasing funding to establishing Ending Homelessness Hubs, reflects true leadership and compassion. The fact that thousands of individuals have been supported in transitioning off the streets is a testament to the effectiveness of these initiatives. While challenges remain, it is encouraging to see a long-term vision in place to eradicate rough sleeping by 2030. I hope these efforts continue to expand, ensuring that no one has to endure the hardship of sleeping on the streets. Well done, Mayor Khan!"