People worried about the welfare of rough sleepers on the Island can use an app or website to get them help.
The Isle of Wight Council has signed up to the national StreetLink service which allows people to report concerns using an app or the StreetLink website.
Reports trigger notifications to a specialist outreach team commissioned by the council to offer support and look at the options available to help people who are sleeping rough.
People making reports also get an update on the situation, so they can be reassured that help has been offered.
Homeless people can also use the app or website to trigger the help process.
StreetLink itself is not an outreach service or an accommodation provider, nor is it an emergency service. It is the link between someone sleeping rough and the independent local services available.
Councillor Ian Stephens, deputy leader and Cabinet member for housing provision and housing needs, said:
“It’s unacceptable to many of us that people in the year 2022 find themselves in the position that they have no place to call home.
Article continues below this advertisement “Having a safe and secure home is one of the most fundamental needs that each and every one of us has. For people without a place to call home the level of risks that they face are multiple — risks to their physical health, risks to their mental health, risk to their emotional wellbeing and risk to their physical safety.
“Rough Sleeping is the most dangerous form of homelessness and it kills. Shocking figures released by the Office of National Statistics in 2021 show there were an estimated 688 deaths of homeless people in England and Wales. This means that on average two homeless people die each day.
“It can be difficult for the public to know where best to go to get support for the homeless, and using StreetLink hopefully means we can cut out that confusion and connect people sleeping rough to local services.”
Islanders can send StreetLink an alert about someone sleeping rough via the website www.streetlink.org.uk, the mobile ‘StreetLink’ app available from Apple iTunes/Google Play store or by calling 0300 500 0914.
I know there’s some obvious examples of rough sleepers e.g. someone asleep in a shop doorway at night, but what about others? Let’s say a person sitting by a supermarket door during the daytime. It being the middle of January and sitting on the ground outside a shop is not ‘normal’ behaviour if you have a home you can go to, likewise people sitting next to cashpoints. Are these homeless people, rough sleepers, and should we ‘report’ them (for want of a better word)? Naively I would assume they were but I’m certainly not going to approach them to find out and is it wrong to ‘report’ them if we’re not sure? Would they be offended?
councillor stephens says..It’s unacceptable to many of us that people in the year 2022 find themselves in the position that they have no place to call home.
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I think you will find councillor stephens, that a significant number of the “homeless” are there by default, owing to the virtue of their atrocious attitude, behaviour and conduct, to previous landlords, neighbours, housing associations and theirselves.
Please do not include the above deadbeats, spongers and layabouts, in the same category as the genuinely homeless that have, through no fault of their own, lost their job and home in the space of a few weeks and do need some help.
last sat in nwpt went too go get chips we walked past a very wethered thin homeless with his husky dog infront of him.
I felt so sad tbh especially for dog who i hope gets well fed ..he was drinking a can beer …standard I know …was obv an allkie from look so we gave him change and went too shop
I then felt we should ask if he wanted some hot food from chippy as it was cold teatime by then
He said no too my surprise.
Obv just lived on cans
So partner said ok mate hes another quid..get yourself another can then!
Hopei too help as im not uncaring but tbh many will choose that life and refuse hel
and by giving money to this sort of person, you are perpetuating their life on the streets – if they were given nothing whatsoever, then they would be required to seek help and abide by all the conditions of behaviour that came with that help.
do not give them any change – they get state benefits already, which they blow on booze.
Why don’t you try minding your own business for once in your life.
Live and let live.
perhaps you should take your own advice jollop.
It is doctor jollop to you sir,
It is one thing to have an opinion, and another thing telling people what they can or cannot do !
What a lovely couple you two are, good on you for not being to judgemental.
I was sitting down sandown seafront the other week with my dog, and some stranger approached and threw 50p at me. He left before I could stop laughing. (Note to self, have a shave).