Severe weather plan to protect London’s homeless this winter
With temperatures set to drop, the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan along with London Councils has activated the Severe Weather Emergency Protocol. This is to protect homeless people in the capital as temperatures drop below 0°C.
This is the first activation of the Severe Weather Emergency Protocol (SWEP) this winter, ensuring that councils all over London and homelessness charities can open additional emergency accommodation for anyone who needs it. The severe conditions could be dangerous and even pose a threat to life.
Every borough in London is committed to the “In for Good” principle. This means that nobody will be asked to leave an accommodation until a support plan is in place to end their rough sleeping, regardless of the temperature. This approach has improved support for homeless people in the capital.
In the winter of 2023, SWEP was activated for sixteen days, while the previous year, it was activated for 28 nights.
Rough sleeping has increased in London and throughout the country. London has been hit hard by key service cuts and a nationwide slowdown in housebuilding. The latest figures from City Hall show that the total number of people sleeping rough has seen a 20% increase compared with the same period a year earlier.
In response to this, the Mayor has delivered “record” funding to homelessness charities and service providers, and has increased City Hall’s rough sleeping budget. At £36.3 million, the budget in 2023/24 is now more than four times the £8.45 million a year it was when Sadiq took office in 2016. Around 17,600 people have been helped off the capital’s streets since 2016 through the Mayor’s services alone, with 75% staying off the streets for good.
In October, Sadiq announced £4.8 million funding for services to help ensure former rough sleepers at 3,500 properties across the capital can support themselves and stay off the streets for good, and a new ‘Homes off the Streets’ initiative, delivered by City Hall, building on his Clearing House scheme.
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