Thursday 11 December
City holds seminar on route to a home for rough sleepers
The City of London Corporation held a seminar for practitioners
on working to find a home for rough sleepers in central London
boroughs on Thursday 11 December. The event was held in partnership
with the Department for Communities and Local Government.
Speakers included Iain Wright MP (Minister for Homelessness),
Richard Blakeway (Mayoral Director of Housing, GLA) and Howard
Sinclair (Chief Executive, Broadway).
The seminar focussed primarily on sharing the successes and
challenges of working with rough sleepers.
Kenneth Ayers, the Chairman of the Community and Children’s
Services Committee said:
“Here in the City, homelessness and rough sleeping is something
which we take very seriously. At the City Corporation we think it
is vital to engage directly with homeless people and act as a
gateway for them to a wide network of support, advice and services.
This is the only way to reduce the number of people sleeping rough
on the City streets.”
Homelessness Minister Iain Wright said:
“We've made great strides in cutting the number of people
sleeping rough on our streets and I would like to thank all those
in the sector who have made this possible. There's more we can do
and I'm confident that with passion and commitment and by working
together we can achieve our ambition of ending rough sleeping by
2012.”
The City of London Corporation works with Broadway, a leading
homelessness charity to help people sleeping on the streets. In the
five months between April and August, 99 people have moved off the
City’s streets into accommodation and the average numbers sleeping
rough has dropped by a third to about 40. Each success represents a
chance for a new life - and is often the result of many hours of
engagement and trust building.
However, there is still a lot of work to be done. The City
Corporation, Broadway and the City of London Police are aiming to
provide positive alternative approaches to living on the street.
Together they aim to find ways of re-connecting rough sleepers to
society so they can begin to live with more dignity and hope and
away from the dangerous and unhealthy streets.
Ends
Notes for editors
The City of London Corporation: The City of London Corporation,
which provides local government services for the Square Mile, the
financial and commercial heart of Britain, works nationally and
internationally to maintain and enhance the City as a world-leading
international financial and business centre. Its other
special responsibilities and services to London and the wider UK
include the Barbican Arts Centre, the Central Criminal Court at the
Old Bailey, 10,000 acres of open space including Hampstead Heath
and Epping Forest, three wholesale food markets, two inner-London
City Academies, the City Bridge Trust, economic regeneration
programmes in neighbouring boroughs and acting as London’s Port
Health Authority. The Lord Mayor of the City of London (currently
Ian Luder, an eminent tax accountant) works extensively at home and
abroad to promote the City.
www.cityoflondon.gov.uk
Communities and Local Government 2012 Target: A major new drive
to end rough sleeping by 2012 was announced by the Government in
November.
For further details please contact:
Susanna Howard
Press Office
020 7332 3450
susanna.howard@cityoflondon.gov.uk