Housing chiefs at Enfield Council have said they are “committed to housing all rough sleepers” as the coronavirus crisis escalates.
It comes after a woman was spotted apparently sleeping rough after the Government asked councils to house all rough sleepers by Sunday (March 29).
A concerned resident contacted the Enfield Independent to report the rough sleeper was still out in the open in a location where she had regularly been seen.
When we went to check, she was still there at 7.45pm on Monday evening (March 30).
The woman said she had not been contacted by the council following the Government’s request to house rough sleepers but added that she did not want to be involved with the council.
The Enfield Independent has contacted the relevant authorities to ensure they offer to help the woman.
Homeless people’s charity Crisis revealed last week that the Government had sent a letter to local authorities asking them to house all people sleeping rough and those in hostels and night shelters.
The letter warns communal settings “are high-risk for spreading coronavirus”.
It states: “We are all redoubling our efforts to do what we possibly can at this stage to ensure that everybody is inside and safe by this weekend, and we stand with you in this.
“These are unusual times so I’m asking for an unusual effort. Many areas of the country have already been able to ‘safe harbour’ their people which is incredible. What we need to do now though is work out how we can get ’everyone in’.”
Crisis welcomed the move but wrote to the Prime Minister on Thursday (April 2) to warn there “continues to be far too many people still on our streets or in dangerous congregate accommodation”.
The charity called on the Government to remove the legal barriers to people receiving homelessness assistance and to provide a dedicated funding stream for local authorities to secure accommodation.
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has secured more than 300 hotel rooms to protect rough sleepers from coronavirus, with support from the Government.
City Hall says it will continue to work with London’s boroughs and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to identify rough sleepers and ensure everyone gets the support they need.
An Enfield Council spokesperson said: “We are committed to housing all rough sleepers during this time and beyond – it is a key part of our Homelessness Strategy. We can’t comment on individual cases, but this can be exceptionally challenging as not everyone wants help.
“We are working with multi agency partners to assess steps available to us during this time.”