Mayor funds new team to help homeless people sleeping rough on transport

The Mayor of London has announced £300,000 funding for a new outreach team to help homeless people sleeping rough on London’s public transport.

The team, which is dedicated to helping the rising number of homeless people who use night buses and tubes as a place to sleep, will receive £300,000 funding for 18 months alongside a series of new projects from Sadiq Khan’s million-pound Rough Sleeping Innovation Fund.

The team will help find accommodation, provide access to support services, or reconnect people with family and friends to prevent them from ending up sleeping on the streets.

The funding forms part of the £9 million Khan committed to spending each year on rough sleeping services, and is in addition to the £50 million he is using to invest in accommodation to help people mot move on from hostels and refuges.

Data from Transport for London has revealed that the number of homeless people sleeping on night buses in winter 2015/16 was 121 er cent greater than the same period in 2012/13.

Latest statistics show the rise in rough sleeping has halted for the first time since 2009, with 8,108 people seen on the streets last year, virtually unchanged from 8,096 the year before.

Alongside the new night outreach team, Khan’s new million-pound Rough Sleeping Innovation Fund will support projects including: a new web-based tool to cross-check key details from the Missing People database with those on the Mayor’s CHAIN database of rough sleepers in London; two projects helping female rough sleepers access services - one by the charity Groundswell to help improve female rough sleepers’ physical and mental health, and the other by Thames Reach to help with domestic violence and substance abuse issues; and a training and skills support programme to help former rough sleepers into work run by charitable giving project ‘BEAM’.

In addition to the funding services, the Mayor has set up the ‘No Nights Sleeping Rough’ taskforce - a group that brings together key partners to identify what new interventions are needed to help rough sleepers, lobbying government for support where necessary.

The announcement of the team comes ahead of the launch of Khan’s draft London Housing Strategy for consultation in early September, which will set out his aim to ensure there is a route off the streets for every rough sleeper in London.

Khan said: “Over the last year, we’ve seen the rise in rough sleeping halted for the first time in nearly a decade – but even one person ending up in this position is too many, and I am determined to make sure homeless people get the support they need.

“My new night-time transport team will work across our buses and Tubes to help people before they end up sleeping rough on the streets. I’ll continue to work closely with councils, homeless organisations, and Government to make sure there is a way off the street for every rough sleeper in London.”

Jeremy Swain, chief executive of Thames Reach and member of the Mayor’s No Nights Sleeping Rough Task Force, said: “As a member of the Mayor’s No Nights Sleeping Rough Task Force I greatly welcome the news that the Rough Sleeping Innovation Fund is funding exciting new initiatives aimed at reducing rough sleeping in the capital. Crucially these projects have a strong focus on specific groups; for example homeless women, people with multiple needs and rough sleepers with brain injuries and will be delivered by a encouragingly wide range of organisations.

“I am thrilled too that, through a partnership between the Mayor and Transport for London new night transport outreach team has been funded which will be managed by Thames Reach. This gives us much needed capacity to reach out to transient rough sleepers forced to travel the buses and tube system at night who deserve the same help and support to escape homelessness as the person sleeping rough in a shop doorway.”