LONDON (UK) – With most of Britain’s population indoors waiting out the coronavirus, rough sleeper Mohamed Sisi remained on a patch of pavement opposite London’s Charing Cross rail station, simply because he has nowhere else to go.
Police advised Sisi to move to a homeless shelter during the lockdown enforced nationwide. He found it closed and so, the 29-year-old was back on the streets. Sisi understands that people are panicked.
Hundreds are stuck in similar situations in London according to homeless charities. This is a time when homeless shelters struggle with staff and supplies shortages.
“If you don’t have a home, how can you stay inside?”
– Jeremy Gray, Evolve CEO
Evolve is a London-based charity providing accommodation for homeless people.
All but one of Evolve’s centres were open, but concerns about staffing over the next few months have been raised.
“The big challenge for us under the circumstances would be even more people going off sick, and even more shifts needing to be filled. The challenge of supporting our vulnerable customers, more of whom would be going into isolation, you can just imagine the multiple challenges that would present.”
– Jeremy Gray, Evolve CEO
Several initiatives have reached out to lend a hand.
On Saturday, London Mayor Sadiq Khan announced that Intercontinental Hotels Group-owned hotels had 300 rooms allocated over the next 12 weeks for homeless people to self-isolate in.
St Mungo’s, a homeless charity, coordinated the scheme while drivers who work for ride-hailing taxi services accompanied people to their rooms.
On Thursday, The Passage, a homeless charity whose patron is Prince William called for more help for rough sleepers with an aim of attempting to get 600 people off the streets by Friday.
Starting April 2018 to March 2019, at least 8,855 people have slept on the streets in London alone.
Rough sleepers are more likely to have underlying health conditions making them extremely vulnerable to the coronavirus.
(Photos syndicated via Reuters)
This story has been edited by BH staff and is published from a syndicated field.
