The 999 Club is participating in the capital’s Severe Weather Emergency Protocol (SWEP), which was triggered again today by the Mayor of London.
This year, we will offer emergency beds in our night shelter for people in need, up to its capacity of 30 women and men. There, everyone will be given a sleeping bag and bedding, a hot dinner, breakfast, access to showers, laundry, IT facilities and housing, benefits and employment support.
During the time that SWEP is active, people do not need to have a local connection or to have recourse to public funds in order to qualify for a place in the emergency shelter.
The protocol is started when the Met Office forecasts temperatures to fall to zero or below. This is expected for London and beyond for the coming days.
SWEP is both a local council level and a pan-London initiative which aims to ensure no-one needs to sleep on the streets during the coldest days of the year.
Once activated, each council is asked to offer extra, emergency beds to people who are sleeping rough.
The pan-London system is now coordinated by the Mayor of London’s office with the homeless charity St Mungos, which in the borough of Lewisham provides additional spaces in its shelters in Spring Gardens for men and Pagnall Street for women.
Once local facilities are full, people can be referred to other emergency shelters in London.
According to the latest report from Shelter, Lewisham ranks 12th in England for its level of homelessness. A total of 6,717 people were recorded as being homeless – 1 in 45 people living in the borough (up from 1 in 49 people last year).
What the public can do
As the temperature drops there are a number of things you can do if you see someone sleeping rough or if you know someone who is homeless during this time.
Contact Street Link in the first instance. This service operates throughout England and Wales. Members of the public can log details of a homeless person they come across on the Street Link website (or app) and this information is sent to an outreach team to help them find the individual and get them the help they need.
Details requested include the precise location of the rough sleeper and the time they were there as well as a description of them which would help find them. See https://www.streetlink.org.uk/
Donate to a homeless charity. There are many small charities providing essential day-to-day services for vulnerable people in their communities. These organizations are heavily dependent on fundraising to keep open, and remain free for clients to use when they most need them.
Many charities will run festive campaigns, but homelessness happens year-round, and they welcome donations throughout the year. One-off payments or regular giving through direct debits are easy to set up and are usually well posted on the relevant charity’s website.
Give your time. Homeless charities are always looking for volunteers, particularly after the Christmas period. This could be an evening a week to serve dinner in a night shelter or an early morning, helping with breakfast. Most will ask for a minimum commitment of once a week for at least three months. Contact us or your local charity and find out how you could help.