Fareham Borough Council uses bed and breakfast to support homeless as rough sleeping persists

Fareham Borough Council is providing fully equipped self-catering accommodation and separate bed and breakfast accommodation to all rough sleepers, ensuring they can practise safe social distancing throughout the national lockdown.

The council is working with homeless shelter Two Saints, Vivid Housing, and community group Acts of Kindness in order to support homeless people across the borough.

Activists from the Facebook group Fareham and Gosport Help The Homeless have identified three people still sleeping on the streets of central Fareham, and these rough sleepers remain hesitant to engage with council services.

Lou Anderson, a member of the group, said: ‘I think the ones who have not come forward to the council haven’t done so because they are terrified – it is a massive change.

‘They don’t come forward because they don’t have that trust there.

‘And it’s easy for the council to miss them, because they move around a lot.’

Lou said she remains in contact with several people now in accommodation provided by the council.

She said: ‘A couple are finding it much better than being on the streets.

‘I think the council have responded well to getting the homeless housed.

‘But my concern is once this is over, they have not said this is a permanent fixture for them.

‘It’s unfair to take away this – it would like teasing someone.

A ‘small’ number of rough sleepers have come forward since the lockdown came into place on Monday March 23, accord to council leader Sean Woodward,

Cllr Woodward said: ‘All rough sleepers that were known to the council when the lockdown began have now been housed in fully equipped, self-catering accommodation, and are provided with food parcels.

‘A small number of rough sleepers have come forward since that time and are currently in bed and breakfast to give the Council time to understand their situation and prepare suitable accommodation for them.’

The number of people sleeping rough in the town centre has fallen over the last year, with a national survey recording 10 rough sleepers in 2019, compared with 19 in 2018.

In February, the council was awarded £141,450 from the government to expand the work of its rough sleeping outreach service, provided by charity Two Saints.