Emergency procedures have been called into action across the county ahead of freezing temperatures tonight.
All six district, city and borough councils in the county, in unison with the police, have activated their Severe Weather Emergency Protocol.
It means the police and local authorities will be making proactive efforts to ensure rough sleepers have a warm bed for the night.
What is the Severe Weather Protocol?
According to Tewesbury Borough Council's website:
Gloucestershire's local authorities operate a severe weather protocol when the temperature drops below zero for three consecutive nights.
The county severe weather emergency protocol and cold weather provision has two aims:
- To ensure that no one dies on the streets due to cold weather.
- To ensure that every effort is made to engage with individuals during the cold weather period so they do not return to the streets.
The local authorities will monitor the weather conditions for their area in relation to the definition above and make a decision on whether the severe cold weather arrangements apply. In addition, an occasional forecast above zero in a series of sub- zero nights or the impact of rain, snow and wind chill should also be considered in relation to 'severe weather'.
Once a local authority has been alerted about a rough sleeper, it will have its individual arrangements in place to sort out temporary accommodation during severe weather and help each person complete a housing benefit claim where necessary.
Freezing nights to set in
The temperature is set to hit zero at about 5am in Gloucester, but with added factors like windchill the 'feels like' temperature could be as low as -4C. It is set to be a dry night.
On Monday night it is set to dip to -2C , feeling like -3C, and on Tuesday into Wednesday it will again hit -2C, feeling like -5C.
What support is available for homeless people and rough sleepers in Gloucestershire?
- The P3 Outreach team responds to Streetlink reports and looks proactively for street sleepers in hotspots. They talk to people and help them get the accommodations and support they need in the short term, or help them reconnect people with friends or family or to their district or county of origin.
- Greensquare and P3 Outreach are commissioned by the county council to deliver community based support, which works with sofa surfers, as well as people in tenancies.
- The Police are part of the Severe Weather Emergency Protocol (SWEP), and proactively look for homeless people and liaise with P3 Outreach team / councils / Emergency Duty team.
- Similarly, each local authority informs key local partners when (SWEP) is called – community safety teams, local charities – so that they are also aware and can liaise with SWEP referrers.
- CGL (substance misuse service, commissioned by county council) has a dedicated street outreach worker, which includes but isn't limited to rough sleepers.
- The 'Time To Heal' team (commissioned by CCG) works with homeless people in GRH hospital, to prevent them being discharged to the street.
- The Homeless Healthcare Team (commissioned by CCG) provides specialist physical and mental healthcare to homeless people in their Gloucester base
- There are many faith groups and other volunteer community support (VCS) groups who do outreach; soup runs etc. with homeless and vulnerable people in the county.
- Generally people are expected to make their own way to shelters, and are given travel tokens if necessary. Where needed, the P3 team can take an individual with particular needs in an outreach car to their SWEP accommodation.
- In exceptional cases where it is not suitable for people to be placed into communal SWEP accommodation for their own or others' safety, or because a client has a dog and all dog spaces are filled, or even if all crashpad places are filled, individuals will then be placed in hotels.
How many people are homeless in Gloucestershire?
Only this month, official Government figures were released to show the scale of homelessness in the UK, revealing numbers nationwide have risen by 15 per cent.
But in Gloucestershire the figure had actually dropped.
This is how many people are officially recorded as being homeless in each area:
Gloucester - 15 homeless
Cheltenham - nine homeless
Stroud - two homeless
Forest of Dean - one homeless
Forest of Dean
Cotsowlds - one homeless
Tewkesbury - two homeless
What are the councils doing?
Anyone who is concerned about a rough sleeper is encouraged to contact the outreach team by visiting www.streetlink.org.uk, downloading the Street link app, or calling 0300 500 0914. Street Link looks to identify rough sleepers and helps them into accommodation.
Councils in Gloucestershire have also been given £900,000 of Government funding to start ACTion Glos - a new service to support long-term homeless people in the county.
Gloucestershire County Council's cabinet is being asked to approve £11.2million to support homeless people and rough sleepers for a further 18 months. The council commissions community based support services which are provided across the county by P3 and Greensquare.
Councillor Kathy Williams, cabinet member for adult social care delivery (C, Longlevens), said: “The county council is proud of the important role we take, working with partners, to help the most vulnerable people in Gloucestershire. This £11m investment will make sure that we can continue to make a real difference, alongside partners, to supporting homeless and other vulnerable people and their families.”
Cheltenham Borough Council says it provides a range of support services for rough sleepers including its housing options team which can give people advice.
Councillor Peter Jeffries, cabinet member for housing at Cheltenham Borough Council (LD, Springbank), said: ‘’A huge amount of work takes place between a number of partners to support people before they become homeless. I am proud of all that we have in place in Cheltenham to ensure this remains a priority.
‘’Unfortunately in some cases, people do still find themselves homeless. There is a range of options to support people in this situation and, together with partners, we take every step possible to minimise the length of time people may spend sleeping rough and any effects this may have.’’
Cotswold District Council says its in regular contact with rough sleepers to offer them suitable accommodation "where appropriate."
A council spokesman said: "We appreciate that one rough sleeper is more than we would desire, and we strive to be fully aware of any such individuals within our area.
"The outreach service are in regular contact with individuals to ensure that they are offered suitable accommodation where appropriate. We offer full support but it is difficult if an individual is not willing to engage with us or if they are not willing to accept any offer of temporary accommodation.
"The outreach service also ensures that individuals are referred to relevant ‘pathways’ to help them."