Shortly the annual homelessness statistics will be released. The latest London figures for March and April 2012 show an increase in new rough sleepers of 73% in comparison with the same period in 2011 so we can expect some staggering annual figures. There will be a universal wailing and gnashing of teeth. Indeed, I am contemplating booking myself in for some remedial dental treatment in advance. I fear that there will be a rise in the number of long-term entrenched rough sleepers too, not just new arrivals, though judging how great the increase will be is a difficult call. What is far easier to predict is the response to these figures because, by now, we are bound into a familiar ritual where each participant implicitly knows their role. It’s a dance where we all take our partners, and then off we go. A type of St Vitus’ dance perhaps, which I understand is a disease characterised by rapid, uncoordinated and jerking movements. This is my prediction: The rough sleeping
From 1999-2018 I was CEO of homelessness charity Thames Reach. From 2018-20 I worked at MHCLG to deliver rough sleeping and homelessness programmes. This blog seeks to bring to life the complexities, dilemmas, set-backs and triumphs that are part of trying to help people escape homelessness. It aims to tell the stories of the inspirational people I have met in my work, many of whom have faced homelessness and from whom I have learnt a lot.