Brighton council coronavirus accommodation for rough sleepers ‘not enough’ says homeless charity

A statement on the city council website says: “We are providing accommodation for rough sleepers in the city during the COVID-19 pandemic, working with our Street Outreach Service and community partners.”

The city council says that finding enough accommodation ‘is taking time’ and that it is prioritising those in ‘the most urgent situations’.

However, with day centres and other services closing in the city, rough sleepers may be unable to access support or hot meals.

The charity Sussex Homeless Support (SHS) says that the council’s accommodation is not enough to prevent rough sleepers from returning to the streets.

“The council, in all fairness, has jumped through hoops,” said Jim Deans of Sussex Homeless Support, “Suddenly there’s accommodation available, it’s unbelievable.

“However, why could they not find the rooms before? And secondly, the rooms are bare.”

Jim Deans says that the rooms provided for rough sleepers have no soap, towels, bedding, food or means to cook, with the exception of a microwave.

“Taking a rough sleeper and putting them in a room that’s bare means they’re not staying in the rooms- they’re all back on the streets.

“They’ve closed the day centres which means that they are getting turned away.

“The end result is rough sleepers now wandering the streets in groups of five or even 10, which is probably the most dangerous thing for them.”

Sussex Homeless Support provides accommodation for 24 rough sleepers inside its converted buses and is currently trying to source televisions and other electronic devices for those in accommodation provided by the council.

“You can’t ask anyone to self-isolate in a room that’s just got a bed and a chest of drawers,” said Jim Deans.

“We’re working really hard to get TVs, DVDs, and radios. My desk looks like a disaster zone where I have been testing all these things.”

“We’ve managed to get our hands on 1,000 DVDs. Hopefully that keeps them entertained enough during the night.”

The charity also provides hot meals, clothing and advice every Sunday at its Brighton Clock Tower street kitchen.

“We are still carrying on with extra safeguarding in place,” Jim Deans said, “We have stepped up everything we do as one service after the next closes but government either needs to have a proper plan and funding this week or it will fall apart at the seams and lives will be lost.”

A Brighton and Hove City Council spokesperson said: “As part of our work to combat COVID-19, we’re finding accommodation for all street homeless and homeless adults currently in shared accommodation in the city.

“This includes any person choosing to sleep in the Sussex Homeless Support buses.

“We have spoken to Mr Deans and offered support from our outreach services to find more suitable places to stay for all on the buses.

“Public health officials and medical experts have advised that groups of people staying in a bus is not appropriate at this time.

“We seek Mr Deans’ support in directing everyone on his night buses into this new accommodation offer.

“Mr Deans has been fully briefed on the package of measures we are introducing to support vulnerable people and the major efforts underway to respond quickly to this crisis situation.

“We are taking the action needed as fast as possible and working with all partners willing to be involved with the citywide efforts.

“These temporary measures are safer than being on the streets and make it easier for vulnerable people to access the support services they need to break the cycle of homelessness. This is about health and wellbeing as well as shelter.

“We are also working closely with agencies in the city to set up a city-wide food distribution service for vulnerable people. This is being led by the city’s Food Partnership, which has been doing fantastic work in this area for many years.

“We would welcome Mr Dean’s support and invite him to contact the Food Partnership as quickly as possible to be part of this citywide response, details are on their website.”

If you meet a rough sleeper showing symptoms or in need of immediate accommodation, you can call a council duty manager on 01273 294 400 (during office hours).

Outside of office hours you can call 01273 295 555 and request to speak with the duty Homeless Persons Officer.

The city council recommends alerting Street Link about rough sleepers who are not showing symptoms of Covid-19 (coronavirus).

In January it was estimated that 83 people sleep rough on the streets of Brighton - this has more than doubled since January 2019 when 30 rough sleepers were counted.

This number is based on a street count which is carried out every two months by the city council’s outreach service and St Mungo’s.

The count aims to provide a ‘single night snapshot’ of rough sleepers.

However, the regular counts are separate to the official annual count required by the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government each autumn.

Additionally, the counts do not capture the number of people who may be vulnerably housed, temporarily living in a hostel, sleeping rough at the edges of the city, or ‘sofa-surfing’ with friends or family.

More information can be found at the city council website here.