Leicester joins European Ending Street Homeless Campaign
Leicester is the latest city to join the European End Street Homelessness Campaign. The campaign seeks to identify people who are street homeless in the local community so that they can be helped off the streets.
Our belief is that that a community must come together to solve homelessness.
We want to know every person experiencing homelessness in our city by name. People who sleep on the streets have an average life expectancy of just 47 years, it is vital that we do everything we can to break the cycle of homelessness.
We are helping to create a community that will end street homelessness.
The campaign will include an overnight street count which will see 80 volunteers taking to the streets to locate and survey people who are sleeping out. De Montfort University are leading the volunteer recruitment and urge staff and students who’d like to get involved to come forward.
As well as the night-time counts, volunteers will visit day centres, hostels and accommodation projects around the city, during a Connections Week scheduled to run from Monday 6th to Friday 10th November, talking to people who have experienced rough sleeping.
The information gathered through the campaign will result in more up to date and accurate figures around the number of people who are street homeless in the city. Once the true scale of the problem is known, we will continue to work with our partners to help these individuals, with an overall ambition of eradicating street homelessness in Leicester.
A range of partners are working together on the project. The Building and Social Housing Foundation, Action Homeless, De Montfort University, DMU Local, Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service, Leicestershire Police, The Y, Inclusion Healthcare, East Midlands Housing Group, and Homeless Link. Leicester City Council are also a partner.
Get Involved:
Help us to create a community focused on ending street homelessness.
If you’d like to get involved or hear more please get in touch via: eshleicester@actionhomeless.org.uk
Use the Streetlink app to report sightings of rough sleepers in the city. Information will be used on the night of the street count to ensure that as many rough sleepers are identified and supported as possible.