A unique service which encourages members of the public to report rough sleepers using their mobile phones so they can be helped by local councils is poised to expand into Wales and Scotland.
StreetLink, which was only set up two years ago and is run from a modest office in Shepherd’s Bush, west London, now passes on about 1,000 reports of homelessness to local council outreach teams across England every month. The number of referrals – which covers those who are sleeping on friends’ sofas or are at risk of homelessness, as well as those physically on the streets – is increasing steadily as the service becomes better known, rising by 23 per cent in the last three months of 2014.
StreetLink currently covers all 326 local authority districts in England, but organisers are currently in discussions with the Welsh and Scottish administrations with the hope of creating one service for the whole of Britain.
Both charities benefiting from The Independent’s Homeless Veterans appeal praised the service, which was set up in December 2012 after the then Housing minister, Grant Shapps, realised that even he had no idea what to do when he saw a homeless person on the streets of Manchester. Wendy Searle, the head of communications at ABF The Soldiers’ Charity, said: “This a really innovative way to help those, whether they are veterans or not, who find themselves sleeping rough. With such a high proportion of the public having smartphones there may be further developments that charities like ours can embrace to help accelerate the time between finding a problem and helping out.”
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