Published Wednesday 1 October
Readers of Wednesday's story about the City "cleaning out" rough
sleepers need to know the full story.
First, no feeling human being wants anybody else to live
sleeping rough and it's up to all of us, working together, to find
ways to re-connect these people to society so they can begin to
live with more dignity and hope, and away from the dangerous and
unhealthy street.
The City of London - the body that looks after the Square Mile
business district as well as its residents - has the same problems
as other central London areas, and is taking a similar approach.
That is, we use intensive outreach (in our case a team of seven,
working late at night and early morning) to engage with
rough-sleepers and encourage them to move into the hostels,
B&Bs or return home as appropriate.
Sleeping in alleys, on pavements too often littered with food
and drink bottles as well as human faeces is not a viable way of
life for the sleepers. Neither is it pleasant for the residents or
the City workforce who have to step over people in doorways on the
way to work.
Under our new programme, which has seen resources for outreach
workers and new hostels, etc, rise sharply, 99 people have moved
off the Square Mile streets into accommodation in the five months
to August - and the average numbers sleeping rough here has dropped
by a third to about 40. Each success is often the result of many
hours of engagement and trust-building and represents a chance for
a new life.
Yes, the streets (and the fouled sleeping sites) are cleaned -
but only after repeated advance warnings and sensitive, direct
contact from outreach workers.
No-one is hosed out and a great deal of support is offered to
help the homeless get into accommodation - or in the case of those
from new EU states without recourse to state benefit, to reconnect
with their homeland community.
We welcome the attention the Guardian has brought to the problem
of rough sleepers and feel that the success of our programme speaks
of itself.
Ken Ayers
Chairman, Community and Children’s Services Committee,
City of London Corporation