NUMBER OF PEOPLE SEEKING HELP NEARLY TRIPLED IN THE LAST YEAR
COST OF LIVING FACTOR FOR NATIONAL CRISIS IN HOMELESSNESS THIS WINTER
WALTHAM FOREST AMOUNG THE HIGHEST RATE OF INCREASE FOR ROUGH SLEEPERS 2022
Forest Churches Emergency Night Shelter, now in its 15th year providing winter shelter and food for people who are homeless in Waltham Forest, has seen the number of people seeking help this November (2023) nearly triple, with 28 active cases compared with 10 this time last year (2022). The charity expects to see 180 people use the service during the year April 2023 – March 24
Waltham Forest is also among the highest rate of increase for rough sleepers in 2022 (from 5 to 27). The trend is expected to continue this year, with large numbers of rough sleepers recorded across London and nationally. Rough sleeping snapshot in England: autumn 2022 – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
According to official figures released by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities earlier in 2023, the number of rough sleepers counted on a single night in England in November 2022 stands at 3,069 compared to 2,440 for the same period in 2021. Representing a rise of 26% or 629 people.
From 2009 – 2020 FCENS ran a roving communal shelter in seven churches, seven venues opening their doors across the week for people to bed down in church halls, with separate rooms for up to 30 men and women each night.
The Covid-19 pandemic caused a major shift in policy and practice around homelessness. In England under the ‘Everybody In’ programme, rough sleeping reduced by half and there was a shift away from communal night shelters. FCENS was required to move to a model providing individual rooms.
FCENS was able to continue and has successfully operated an emergency night shelter for the last three winters using contracted hotel provision. Although the number of guests able to be accommodated declined due to availability and cost of individual rooms, it has shown to give better support to guests, who prefer the dignity of their own room, with access both day and night. This provides the foundation to help them into longer term accommodation.
FCENS is currently working in partnership with the YMCA on Forest Road in Walthamstow providing a year-round drop-in service for people at risk of homelessness. For the winter months, they are able to offer 15 rooms for emergency beds for people who are homeless and vulnerable. This provides an essential support to help them into longer term accommodation, but falls short of meeting the need of everyone who is presenting at the drop-in, many of whom are sleeping rough. Each occupant is given the room for 28 days, in which time the FCENS staff will work with people to help to find more permanent housing solutions. FCENS is now looking for a long-term home in Waltham Forest to provide its services more effectively from its own premises.
David Hoskins, Charity Director, Forest Churches Emergency Night Shelter commented;
“There is a perfect storm in homelessness this winter. With the cost of living, people are struggling to manage the high cost of housing, councils have limited housing stock and are competing for temporary accommodation, which is already full of people in priority need.
Thousands of young adults are leaving home office accommodation at very short notice, while the government clears the backlog of asylum applications, adding to the demand for homelessness services. We are seeing a big increase of people rough sleeping.”
“The number of emergency beds has reduced and there are not enough beds for everyone who needs them. We need more emergency beds for people who are homeless in Waltham Forest. We are looking for a permanent home to continue this essential work to help people into sustainable housing.”
The charity has plenty of running costs, especially now they are unable to use Church space. They have just set up a new Just Giving page, which can be found here: https://www.forestnightshelter.org.uk/donation/. All donations are very welcome and gratefully received.
Featured Photo by Matt Collamer on Unsplash.