Week commencing 8 December 2020
The Rough Sleeper Outreach Team were out late last night into the early hours of this morning ensuring that rough sleepers had an offer of accommodation to take them in from the cold under emergency provision. This outreach was supported by St Giles Trust and the Community First Team. On a positive note numbers were low but sadly of those that were offered the accommodation only one accepted. Sometimes rough sleeping, as horrible as it is, becomes a choice and sadly we cannot make people engage with support. This is where persistent outreach and support from other organisations becomes pivotal in our work. The gentleman who accepted accommodation last night we had met on several occasions but with the help of our colleagues from the Community First Team he has finally decided to come in from the cold. He will now be referred to our floating support team and we will look to secure permanent, suitable accommodation for him.Week commencing 6 November 2020
Our rough sleeper outreach team were early birds this morning! The cold but eventually bright morning led to two people being supported from the streets receiving offers of accommodation. The morning continued with some joint work with the Policing Peterborough Team.
Week commencing 26 October 2020
The outreach team work hard with all our partners to support homeless people, who are, or are at risk of sleeping on the streets.
However, our work does not stop just because a roof has been provided over somebodies’ head. This is often when the real hard work starts, not just for the for the individual we are supporting but also for the team , as we work with them to find long term accommodation and overcome the barriers that have led them to becoming homeless in the first place.
Last week the team helped to secure settled status for four individuals, which means they can prove their eligibility for benefits, and look for work and accommodation in the UK. We also supported four people to obtain their passports, so they can prove their identity and start to look for work, as well as supporting one person to attend an embassy visit in London to start to obtain their ID. These are the first steps to moving towards accommodation for many people from European Economic Area communities.
We accommodated eight people in temporary accommodation, so they have somewhere safer than the streets to stay, and finally, the best news, we secured a tenancy for one person giving them the opportunity to have a new home for good.
Week commencing 19 October 2020
This morning Peterborough City Council’s outreach team completed street outreach to 12 locations throughout the city from Maskew Avenue in the North to Stanground in the South as well as the city centre in between.
Starting in the early morning, when it’s still cold and dark, the team were able to offer accommodation and support to eight people found out on the streets.
As you can see from the photos, people become very adaptive to their surroundings and begin to accept rough sleeping as a way of life, not everyone will be able to accept support and accommodation straight away but with persistence and the right support the outreach team we will continue to offer every rough sleeper found in Peterborough accommodation and work with them until they are able to accept this. Working towards our goal to end street homelessness.