Where do we go from here?
It’s a question many of us are asking ourselves, as lockdown measures are gradually eased and we start to move from dealing with the day-to-day impact of the pandemic to looking towards the longer-term future.
For the nearly 1,400 rough sleepers who have been accommodated in London hotels, paid for by City Hall and the government, it is a very practical question — and one of the utmost importance.
With the help of charities, businesses, councils, volunteers, and City Hall’s dedicated rough sleeping team, lives were doubtlessly saved, with many homeless people being brought in off the streets and given access to resources, support and health services on a level that has never before been seen in Britain.
Our response was guided by our humanitarian principles — and it was world-leading. As a result, we have not observed the high rates of infection among rough sleepers that other world cities have sadly seen. In London, only around three to four per cent of rough sleepers tested have been Covid-positive. By contrast, testing in emergency shelters in San Francisco saw 66 per cent test positive.
The unprecedented use of hotels to house rough sleepers, allowing them to self-isolate and socially distance, has been welcome, and I’m immensely grateful to everyone involved in coordinating this effort. But the reality is that this action was never a long-term solution to the country’s homelessness crisis.
The funding for the hotels was only ever going to be sufficient to cover a short period of time. At least three of our 14 hotels will close this month, with the rest set to wind down over the summer.
Before this happens, our charity partners have been working tirelessly to implement my “In For Good” principle — providing an offer of support to every hotel resident, so that no one needs to return to rough sleeping when they leave. Consequently, these organisations are now in the process of sourcing hundreds of privately rented homes on our behalf, as well as specialist accommodation for those who need more support.
However, there is one group for whom the answer to the question “where do we go from here?” is still shrouded in uncertainty. More than 50 per cent of those currently housed in hotels are non-UK nationals, many with no recourse to public funds, meaning that they have little access to benefits and homelessness assistance. As a result, their accommodation and support options are extremely limited.
This has long proved a major obstacle to resolving rough sleeping in the capital, and is a particularly pressing issue in the current circumstances.
When this public health emergency began, we helped everyone we could to get off the streets because it was both the right thing to do morally and consistent with the government’s “Everyone In” messaging.
However, unless further measures are now taken by the government — and extra funding made available — many non-UK nationals will be forced back onto the streets. This would be a disgraceful outcome, blowing a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to achieve a major and lasting reduction in rough sleeping in London, as well as across the rest of the country.
The government therefore must, as a matter of urgency, take steps to enable this vulnerable group to access support. This could be done by suspending both the No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) condition and the Habitual Residence Test, so that European Economic Area citizens do not need to prove their “right to reside” in order to access benefits, which will help them to cover basic living and housing costs.
Additional help should also be provided so that non-UK nationals are able to easily access specialist independent immigration advice. This would maximise the chances of those in emergency accommodation resolving their immigration status and improving their longer-term housing options.
These measures would spare hundreds of people the indignity and suffering of a return to rough sleeping. Ministers must now ask themselves whether they are prepared to take the action necessary to avert a new rough sleeping crisis. Or are they content to see hundreds of people return to their streets?
The power is in their hands, with the pandemic presenting a rare and unique opportunity to act. It’s now up to them to decide if they wish to seize or squander it.
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