Belfast Homeless Services has warned of a tough winter ahead for those living on the city’s streets
Homeless outreach teams in Belfast have warned of a “bleak” winter ahead for those living on the city’s streets as they call for more support and emergency accommodation.
Liz Rocks from the Belfast Homeless Services made the warning as she spoke of her worries for those who are sleeping rough in the coming months, saying that she attended three funerals in the past seven weeks of people who have died while sleeping on Belfast’s streets.
Speaking to Belfast Live from the new BHS outreach centre on King Street, Liz expressed her fears for the winter months believing that more needs to be done to provide shelter and emergency accomodation for people, with it needing political and statutory intervention as voluntary groups can only do so much.
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At the moment, around 15 crash beds only become available in Belfast City Centre in St Mary’s Church when SWEPs are in place, or Severe Weather Emergency Protocol, which is only in place when temperatures drop below freezing.
Liz said: “At the moment the outlook for the winter is very bleak. In the past seven weeks I have been to three funerals and I fear that if there is not something done urgently to provide emergency accommodation facilities the situation will not get any better.
“But I know that it is not just as simple as providing beds and somewhere for people to stay, because there is a lot more that needs to go on to make sure the correct safeguarding and protections are in place. That is why we need statutory bodies and political representatives to start taking some action, the voluntary sector does a lot of work but it can only do so much.
“I think even some of the recent support that has been offered by the Department for Communities of £150,000 for Christmas dinners could have been used better and provided people with accomodation for a few nights over Christmas instead. At this time of year there are six or seven Christmas dinners people can go to, but a warm, safe bed for a few nights would have done a lot more good.”
Belfast Homeless Services moved premises earlier this year from Amelia Street to King Street and are now able to provide enhanced facilities for their guests. Although Liz says there is still more that could be done to make people’s lives a bit easier.
She said: “The new facilities that we have here are wonderful and give our guests a bit more comfort when they come in and we are very grateful for all of the support we have received since we opened here.
“But there are still some basic facilities that could go a long way for the homeless community in Belfast. Somewhere to wash their clothes would go a long way, because at the moment there is not really anywhere they are able to do that.
“People are not asking for a lot, just to be treated like anyone else and you can imagine what it would be like having to go to sleep in dirty clothes and sleeping bags.”
Liz also warned that the extent of homelessness in Belfast could be much higher than statutory bodies believe due to “hidden homelessness”. The last ‘head count’ of rough sleepers in Belfast found there were around 50 people sleeping on the streets, but is likely higher as some rough sleepers attempt to hide away from the public or sleep outside the city centre.
She said: “The strategy to help the homeless community here needs to be led by Stormont and they need to fund the NIHE properly to do so and save lives.”
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