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The government should scrap plans to deport roughly sleeping foreigners and relaunch the ‘all in’ strategy to protect thousands of homeless people from the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, said charities and the Mayor of London. .
As temperatures drop and a new lockdown across England threatens to force more people onto the streets because of unemployment, the mayor, Sadiq Khan, national homeless charities and human rights groups urge the secretary of the Interior, Priti Patel, to protect foreign citizens who make up almost half of the sleeping population of the capital.
They made the call after the government announced £ 15 million in additional funding for areas with large numbers of poor sleepers to provide accommodation with priority given to those who are clinically vulnerable. The municipalities that will receive the fund include Brighton, Bristol, Cornwall, Manchester and London. But Crisis, the homeless charity, said the money “would run out quickly” and “was not as extensive as what we saw in March, but the threat from the virus remains the same.”
The government also announced a new pause in eviction actions against tenants and none were carried out until January 11, except in cases of antisocial behavior or domestic abuse.
New post-Brexit immigration rules announced last month mean officials can deny a person permission to stay in the UK if they are satisfied that they slept poorly. Khan said this strengthened “already cruel hostile environmental policies.” Housing charities, including Crisis, Shelter, St Mungo’s and Homeless Link, said it could lead some people to the exploitation of modern day slavery to avoid sleeping out in the open and being deported.
Frontline groups are also urging ministers to reopen hotels to thousands of poor sleepers. Epidemiologists have warned that failure to act could cost hundreds of lives this winter. A study by academics from UCL, Imperial College and Lancaster University found that the spring “all in” campaign, which put 15,000 people in cheap hotels, may have prevented 266 deaths in England.
In a letter to Patel and Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick, the charities said: “Instead of a harmful policy that will risk further exploitation for people who sleep outside, we ask the Westminster government to make sure everyone at risk on the streets this winter is offered safe shelter and emergency support. “
They also want homeless people, who they say are more likely to experience a chronic illness, including respiratory problems, to have priority for access to a vaccine when it arrives, which is currently not the case.
Homeless people in the UK and abroad this week told The Guardian how the loss of jobs in restaurants, clubs and event security in recent months had led to their homelessness. Others said that internal pressures caused by the confinement and the difficulty of navigating on the couch during the pandemic were the cause.
As the first blockade eased this summer, there were 3,444 poor sleepers in London between July and September, more than half of whom were new to the streets. It was lower than in the previous quarter, but there are fears of a further increase. Calls from 16 to 25-year-olds rough sleepers, mainly in London and Manchester, to a Centrepoint-run helpline doubled in the months after the first lockdown, the charity said.
“It is vital that ministers act quickly to ensure that the resources available to Everyone In are back on track when we re-enter a national lockdown,” said Seyi Obakin, CEO of Centrepoint.
Khan said: “Without a solid plan, including legislative changes, there is a real risk that all the positive work that we have done together will be undermined and that we will see a skyrocketing rise in Covid-19 infection rates among the people who sleep poorly and spread to the community in general. . “
Holly, 21, a South London health student who gets help from the New Horizon charity, told The Guardian she was kicked out of the home she shared with her family in July, leaving her homeless for two months moving in. from Travelodge to guest rooms.
“After a few weeks we started having discussions about the space, my things were in the hall and I was sleeping in the living room,” he said. “Many young people had the same problem as me, but they don’t talk about it. This second block will not be good for many young people. “
A spokesman for the Interior Ministry said the deportation rules would be used for “a small minority” that rejects government support and repeatedly behaves antisocially.
“This would be a measure of last resort and initially people would be asked to leave voluntarily with the support of the government. In case they refuse, we can take the step to eliminate them. ”
