Night shelters and hotel rooms as a response to homelessness will be actively designed out over the next phase according to plans published today by the Everyone Home Collective. The plans will feed into Scottish and local Government thinking as the country moves out of lockdown and considers the future of night shelter and hotel accommodation along with other issues around homelessness policy.
The Route Map can be viewed here at the Everyone Home website along with further information about the work of the Collective and other plans over the coming weeks and months. Keep up to date with the latest thinking and publications using #EveryoneHome on social media.
Night shelters currently operate in Edinburgh, delivered by Bethany Christian Trust since 1996, and in Glasgow delivered by Glasgow City Mission since 2010.
The COVID-19 pandemic has raised both health and practical considerations for charities providing this type of accommodation. This is especially true for dormitory-style shelters.
Maggie Brunjes, Chief Executive of Homeless Network Scotland, said: “This has been a priority issue for the Collective so I want to thank everyone involved in pulling together this important Route Map, and the organisations running shelters for their leadership and expertise in reaching an agreement that will work.
“The Collective have agreed to modify provision later this year to take into account social distancing and ensure the safety of guests and staff, aiming to make sure shelter is provided for all those who need it. The Route Map sets out our objective to phase out this type of provision, and in the meantime have it act as a reception centre for Housing First and other rapid rehousing options.”
The Staying in Fund is now closed to new applications. If you have already made an application, we will confirm if a grant payment will be made to you (or the person you nominated) no later than Friday 29 May.
Homeless Network Scotland invites you to a series of webinars covering a range of themes concerning the additional impact of Covid-19 on homelessness in Scotland.
Our next live webinar is Involving People in Change on Monday 4 May 2020 | 2–3pm
With the All In for Change Team, this session will highlight the benefits of involving people with lived experience in shaping services and exploring perspectives on current and future involvement in light of COVID-19. It has given us all a better understanding of the importance of choice & control and what it’s like to have restrictions put in place without any say. The systems we take for granted have ground to a halt – our work patterns, socialising, meeting friends and events. For people already going through the toughest times, that’s their normality – lack of certainty, security, contradictory advice, not enough advice, calls not being returned, people not showing up, services not speaking to each other.
For most of us, this will be temporary – but for people that need the most certainty and security while they navigate complicated and contradictory services and systems, normal service won’t be resumed. UNLESS we do things differently…
How are people being involved in decisions that affect them during lockdown? Moving out of lockdown, how can we involve people in reshaping “normal”?
“In Glasgow we’ve got so many of the ingredients we need to end rough sleeping. We’re further ahead than others and probably more than we think. If we really collaborate we can really get this done.”
Local services in Glasgow set out what they need to end rough sleeping, what challenges them, their burning questions – and our next steps together. Report on the first of a new conversation on what it will take to end rough sleeping now available. And the next conversation already being planned – stay involved: Michelle@homelessnetwork.scot #JoiningTheDots
A networking event focused on rough sleeping took place at Glasgow City Chambers yesterday (Wednesday 26 February 2020).It brought together representatives of the key organisations concerned with homelessness in the city, including members of the new Glasgow Alliance to End Homelessness, the Glasgow Health & Social Care Partnership, grassroots networks offering support to people sleeping rough in Glasgow and representatives from the Institute of Global Homelessness (IGH) based in Chicago.
The event, titled Joining the Dots, ‘sold out’ all its 90 free tickets within hours of being made available, demonstrating the strongest will in Glasgow for tackling rough sleeping, the most damaging and dangerous form of homelessness. This commitment was the focus of opening remarks from Councillor Mhairi Hunter with a reflective keynote from Susanne Millar, Interim Chief Officer of Glasgow City Health and Social Care Partnership, on the importance of honest, authentic partnership to drive change.
The event was the start of a new conversation on how to end street homelessness in Scotland’s largest city, bringing people closer together to support partnership working in the future and better outcomes for people. It was also an opportunity for straight talking around concerns and frustrations relating to rough sleeping – what works, and what’s getting in the way.
Charles Maasz, Chief executive of Glasgow City Mission, who chaired the event, said: “It was a blessing to be able to chair this event, bringing together many different perspectives, all of whom want to see an end to rough sleeping once and for all. As an Institute of Global Homelessness (IGH) Vanguard City, Glasgow’s public commitment to reduce rough sleeping is one that all partners want to see come to pass. Only by working together, collectively, will we achieve this.”
Glasgow is one of 13 cities leading a global campaign to reduce and ultimately end street homelessness across 150 cities by 2030. Lydia Stazen, Executive Director of Institute of Global Homelessness, described that Glasgow has all the right ingredients to achieve its ambition and much closer than it thinks when compared to some of the bigger challenges and scale affecting other cities.
Across the day, participants heard from Professor Suzanne Fitzpatrick about what works to end rough sleeping, consulted on a new approach to measure and report on the numbers of people living or sleeping rough, in and beyond the city centre – with the intention that going forward, more organisations including grassroots voluntary groups can be involved in this.
Maggie Brunjes, Chief executive of Homeless Network Scotland, which organised the event, said: “There are many conversations and actions taken on street homelessness in Glasgow in different places, but all with the same goal. So we wanted to bring those diverse voices together to share knowledge and insight and kick-start fresh efforts to get a grip of this issue in Glasgow together. We know it can be done.“
“A vital component of the current debate is how we measure street homelessness in a way that has everyone’s support – with a new conversation taking place that includes charities, academics, Glasgow City Health & Social Care Partnership the Scottish Government and others to review the way we do this and feed into national conversation on the same theme. Today’s discussion moved that forward.”
Amanda Bennett, Senior Partnerships Manager at Frontline Network, who sponsored the event, said: “Today’s event was a great opportunity for people working on the frontline of homelessness, paid staff, volunteers and people with personal experiences, to come together to network, break down silos and improve knowledge and understanding of the most recent thinking and policy developments. It was also a space for services to underline the critical role that frontline workers have in feeding into the wider conversations taking place in Scotland.”
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