Next Monday (10 October) is World Homeless Day – which gives people the opportunity to find out how to help people who are homeless and where to get help if you or someone you know is faced with homelessness.
On Monday 10 October, from 11am – 2pm, Solihull Council is holding a free drop in session with homeless advice organisations at The Core Library. Organised by the Council’s Rough Sleeper Coordinator, there will be a range of organisations that the Council works with who can give advice and assistance if you are homeless or know who somebody is. These include the Council’s Rough Sleeper team, St Basil’s, SIAS and Solihull Community Housing.
This month also sees the start of a new Rough Sleeper Outreach Team. Funded through the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities’ (DLHUC) Rough Sleeping Initiative (RSI) grant programme, the team will build on existing outreach work by targeting new hotspots of homelessness and rough sleeping in the borough.
Deputy Leader for Solihull Council and Lead Member for Partnerships and Wellbeing, Cllr Karen Grinsell, said: “The new funding from the Rough Sleeping Initiative programme allows us to build on the work that we are already undertaking to tackle homelessness in the borough through Housing First, the Rough Sleeping Accommodation Programme and our day to day outreach work.
“Until the pandemic, we have consistently had low figures for rough sleeping with between one and six people sleeping rough in Solihull town centre. However, since the pandemic we have found that people are now sleeping rough in new areas in the borough so we need a different approach. The new Rough Sleeper Outreach Team will give us the capacity and expertise to ensure that we can care for and move people safely off the streets and into secure housing.
“As always, I would ask that people continue to report anyone who they think is sleeping rough to StreetLink, the national reporting system. This information is vital for our outreach team and ensures that we can find the people that need our help. Let’s continue to work together to help homeless people.”
If you see anyone sleeping rough please contact StreetLink via www.streetlink.org.uk/ who will notify the Solihull Outreach Team.
For emergency temporary accommodation please contact Solihull Community Housing on 0121 717 1515 (24/7).
If you think someone is in immediate danger always call 999.
Residents can also donate to Change into Action Solihull which works with Solihull Council to provide additional support – www.changeintoaction.org.uk/solihull