Whatever the weather this winter, and to give the most vulnerable rough sleepers safe shelter, on Tuesday 4 November,Arc Light and York Mind are launching Making Every Adult Matter (MEAM) in York .

York – Number of residents accepted as homeless & numbers in temporary accommodation at year end
Year	Accepted	in temp. accom. at 31st March
2003/4	460	242
2004/5	424	259
2005/6	433	233
2006/7	214	207
2007/8	258	209
2008/9	208	167
2009/10	130	79
2010/11	183	94
2011/12	151	93
2012/13	146	99
2013/14	109	80
2014/15	Not available	65

 

Despite the widespread support that exists in the city, some extremely vulnerable individuals with complex issues remain unable to maintain day to day contact with support agencies and so end up sleeping out on the streets.

In York, MEAM will involve a partnership of the city’s key agencies specialising in homelessness, offending behaviour, mental ill health and substance misuse.

MEAM partners will create tailor-made support packages for long-term rough sleepers with complex needs, to enable them to overcome problems that might otherwise prevent them getting accommodation and support services.

On 3 November (today), the city’s ‘severe weather’ scheme which operates every year, will start and will, this winter, run until March 2015. Throughout the winter, hostels across the city open their doors and provide an emergency bed, hot meal, shower and advice to those who are known to services but generally refuse help until the weather worsens.

Meanwhile the No Second Night Out Scheme, launched in January last year by the Archbishop of York Dr John Sentamu to help ‘new’ rough sleepers into accommodation, continues to deliver year-round benefits. Since January 2013 the combined severe weather and No Second Night Out provision has provided 1,842 bednights to 243 people who would otherwise have spent the night on the streets.

Today, as part of Housing Week, the city’s agencies which specialise in supporting people off the streets will be meeting at West Offices to discuss the barriers that rough sleepers face and how they can be overcome.

Also in Housing Week, on Wednesday 5 November, a training course will be held for homelessness professionals to identify early signs of people being at risk of homelessness, and preventative measures that can be taken.

The following day, on Thursday 6 November, sector professionals and members of York’s Health and Wellbeing Board will also meet customers at Arc Light to take MEAM solutions further.

Jeremy Jones, Chief Executive of Arc Light, said: “The launch of MEAM is an opportunity to address the very real problem of entrenched rough sleeping and is another example of how York agencies continue to work in partnership to reach out to those who most desperately need accommodation and support but struggle to access it.”

Anyone concerned about someone rough sleeping should either ring the Salvation Army on 01904 545096 or Street Link, the national rough sleeper helpline, on 0300 500 0914.