'Extra money will not cure rough sleeping', says former hostel worker

[dutchman]

The Prime Minister has announced a £442 million plan to get rough sleepers off the streets by Christmas



A former Coventry hostel worker said more money "will not cure underlying issues", after Prime Minister Andy Burnham announced his £442 million plan to get rough sleepers off the streets by Christmas.

Burnham said on Tuesday that emergency accommodation will be provided to end rough sleeping, alongside practical support for any health needs, as he did not believe "anybody should be forced to sleep rough".

Nobby Clarke, who ran Coventry Winter Night Shelter for seven years, told BBC Radio CWR that rough sleepers need more support than "just being thrown a set of keys to an empty premise".

Coventry City Council said that its rough sleepers team has more resources including mental health experts, and additional funding will "allow us to enhance support".

As well as providing immediate support to get people off the streets, government funding is designed to deliver more than 1,000 homes over the next three years to provide rough sleepers with permanent accommodation.

The funding will also provide "intensive wraparound support", typically psychiatric and drug and alcohol services, to help people rebuild their lives.

Clarke argued that rough sleepers need a filtered system instead, like night shelters, to enable them to be gently put into more permanent accommodation.

"What night shelters were able to provide was a sense of family – we would advocate for people and then try and put them through the right pathway," Clarke said.

He added: "If this is just pushing more money down the throats of agencies who are already involved in homelessness, it will only work when the money is around. It won't cure the underlying issues that people have.

"I have listened to a lot of council officers and politicians wax lyrical about how well they are doing statistically, and then you walk around the streets and there are still lots of people there."

[rebbonk]

Nothing but sound bites from Burnham.

Homelessness is the symptom, not the cause.