London Mayor announces £300,000 of funding for Crisis to extend accommodation for rough sleepers throughout January
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The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, today announced he alongside the
Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government is providing
£300,000 to homelessness charities Crisis and St Mungo's,
supporting them to extend accommodation for people sleeping rough
at one of its Christmas hotels for an extra four weeks. These
hotels provide vital shelter and one-to-one support to help people
leave the streets behind for good. Over the festive
period, Crisis will provide...Request free trial
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, today announced he alongside the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government is providing £300,000 to homelessness charities Crisis and St Mungo's, supporting them to extend accommodation for people sleeping rough at one of its Christmas hotels for an extra four weeks. These hotels provide vital shelter and one-to-one support to help people leave the streets behind for good. Over the festive period, Crisis will provide accommodation to more than 570 people in London who would otherwise be sleeping rough. By providing people with their own hotel room and access to a lead worker who can give one-to-one support, Crisis is seeing fewer people return to life on the streets. The £300,000 funding announced by the Mayor today will go towards Crisis' accommodation until the end of January and enable St Mungo's charity to carry out additional assessments and specialised casework to ensure over 170 get the best possible chance to end their homelessness. Last year, 65 per cent of the guests who stayed in Crisis' extension hotel until the end of January, were not seen rough sleeping three months later. In addition to its three hotels across the capital, Crisis will also be operating three-day centres providing warmth, companionship and health and wellbeing services to people in insecure housing situations. Both the day centres and hotel services offer warm food, clothing and access to vital support and advice such as GP services, haircuts, and eye tests. With rough sleeping rising across the country including a 20 per cent increase in the capital [1], tackling rough sleeping and homelessness is a top priority for the Mayor. He has pledged to end rough sleeping by 2030. Since taking office in 2016, Sadiq has quadrupled funding and helped 17,600 people off the streets, 75 per cent of which have stayed off the streets for good. Today the Mayor visited the Crisis warehouse centre to help the charity prepare for its Crisis at Christmas appeal, which encourages people to help through fundraising, volunteering, and campaigning. At the warehouse, the Mayor helped Crisis volunteers to pack and organise food donations which will be delivered to the charity's day centres and hotels across London. It followed the Mayor's inaugural mixed charity football match between cross-party politicians and journalists, held in partnership with the Chelsea Foundation. The ‘London vs Homelessness' match took place at Kingsmeadow, the home of Chelsea FC Women, on Monday evening, with all players pledging to do a volunteer shift for Crisis. In addition, the Mayor is urging Londoners to donate to his annual winter rough sleeping campaign, by donating at contactless TAP London points across the capital or online. [2] Londoners can also support the campaign by flagging rough sleepers to support services through StreetLink. [3] Sadiq's winter rough sleeping campaign has raised more than £700,000 since 2017. The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: “Decades of cuts to public services and the chronic housing shortage brought on by the previous Government have led to a shocking rise in rough sleeping and homelessness. I am doing everything I can to tackle this dire situation and urge Londoners to help by referring people they see sleeping rough to StreetLink, or donating whatever they can to my rough sleeping campaign to support a host of homelessness charities doing incredible work. “Crisis is a lifeline to those sleeping rough, and this funding will enable it to extend its Christmas accommodation, so that more people can benefit from shelter and specialised support this winter. I'm proud to be supporting Crisis and, by hosting my inaugural charity football match, raising further awareness for its vital Christmas appeal. Together we can kick rough sleeping out of the capital by 2030 and build a fairer London for everyone.” Matt Downie, Crisis Chief Executive, said: “Providing our guests with additional time to access tailored support through our hotel provision is a dignified and proven approach that we know changes lives. “During these extra weeks, guests will continue to receive one-to-one support and are provided with clear routes into year-round services on offer from organisations like Crisis. “We are hugely grateful for the support of the Greater London Authority and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. “This year, we've seen unprecedented demand for our services and need the support of the public more than ever. By donating to Crisis this Christmas, you'll be helping someone take their first step out of homelessness and onto a path to a safe and secure home, for good.” Minister for Homelessness, Rushanara Ali said: “We have inherited the worst housing crisis in living memory, with rough sleeping numbers soaring. It is a national disgrace and we are determined to right this wrong. “This much needed funding will help the great people at Crisis to continue delivering their life-changing work on the frontline, not just by offering shelter and warm beds over Christmas but by also by giving people a pathway off the streets for good. “But we must also tackle the root causes of homelessness, not just its symptoms. That is why we are bringing together ministers across government to build a long-term strategy, working with councils, to get us back on track to ending homelessness.” James Lally St Mungo's Services Director said: “Safe, warm and decent accommodation is the foundation on which we all build, and rebuild, our lives. With a roof over our heads, we can protect ourselves from violence, establish healthy, supportive relationships and build hope and optimism for the future. None of us should be without it, though tragically many are. “We know that people are more likely to escape homelessness if they are supported to do so from somewhere safe to stay. This vital funding extends that support to some of the most excluded people during the coldest time of the year. Once again, it enables St Mungo's and Crisis to work together to support as many people as possible to leave homelessness behind for good.” Laura Cordingley, Chief Executive of Chelsea Foundation, said: “We were delighted to host the ‘London vs Homelessness' charity football match at Kingsmeadow. With nearly 12,000 people sleeping rough in London last year, and over 3,200 in south-west London alone, Chelsea FC and Chelsea Foundation are supporting individuals and families affected by homelessness and its root causes through our Wrap Up Warm campaign. “Our staff, supporters and residents have been donating warm clothing to those who need it most during the festive period, and as part of this, we are donating over 600 items of clothing to Crisis which will support all of the people who Crisis will provide accommodation for in London who would otherwise be sleeping rough. However, we also realise clothing donations are a short-term solution to a long-term, societal problem. Therefore, in addition, we are also raising funds that will support charities tackling homelessness every day. You can help by donating at our Wrap Up Warm Go Fund Me page.” ENDS Notes to editors The £300,000 funding has been allocated to the Greater London Authority by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG). The team of cross-party politicians and guests playing in the Mayor's inaugural mixed London Vs Homelessness charity football game included:
Eni Aluko, ex-Chelsea Women's Football Club Joe Powell, MP for Kensington and Bayswater Krupesh Hirani, Labour, London Assembly Member for Brent and Harrow Emma Best, Conservative, London-wide Assembly Member Dominic Twomey, Leader of Barking and Dagenham Simon Hogg, Leader of Wandsworth Andreas Kirsch, Leader of Kingston Ergin Erbil, Leader of Enfield James Small-Edwards, Assembly Member for Hammersmith & Fulham, Kensington and Chelsea, City of Westminster Amina Mohamed, founder and director at Belong Kick Mete Coban, Deputy Mayor of London for Environment and Energy City Hall staff from directorates including External Relations, International Relations and Mayoral Operations also took part.
The journalist team included:
LBC, Ben Kentish [1] In the period April-June 2024 outreach teams recorded 1931 people in London sleeping rough for the first time. Of these: 1419 (73 per cent) spent just one night sleeping rough 440 (23 per cent) slept rough for more than one night but did not go on to live on the streets 72 (4 per cent) were deemed to be living on the streets. The number of new rough sleepers recorded during this period was 20 per cent higher than the same period last year. The full quarterly CHAIN rough sleeping report for 2023/24 is available here: https://data.london.gov.uk/dataset/chain-reports [2] https://www.taplondon.org/ [3] StreetLink - Connecting people sleeping rough to local services (thestreetlink.org.uk) For more information on Chelsea FC and Chelsea Foundation's Wrap Up Warm campaign visit gofundme.com/wrap-up-warm. |