The organisation FORS (friends of rough sleepers) Folkestone, is a page committed to raising awareness of the problems faced by rough sleepers in Folkestone. The founders are Sharon Silvey and Billie Bell. This is the background to this organisation. On the 20th JanuaryI woke up to a news story that two rough sleepers had been found dead, on the streets of Folkestone. It later transpired this this was not quite accurate and that they were found inside but we didn’t find out this information until after the weekend. The news really upset me, I couldn’t believe that this sort of thing could happen in the world’s fifth richest country. That weekend, which was minus 2 degrees and felt colder, I asked my son Billie if he could find a rough sleeper who wanted to go into a hotel for a few days and I would the provide the funds. I felt compelled to act and do something. I then asked my friends via social media if they wanted to do the same. Offers from my friends came flooding in and they shared the idea with their friends and so a campaign was born on social media out of sheer frustration and emotion. The (unplanned) campaign’s initial aim was to raise as much money as we could to keep people off the streets, for as long as we could, during the cold spell, and to raise awareness of the number of rough sleepers on our streets. We counted, at least 20 rough sleepers, with suggestions that there were 30 more living at the Warren.The Chief Executive of SDC wrote an email a few days ago, to Damian Collins, saying that were only four rough sleepers on our streets. This a gap in service provision. We didn’t expect the reaction we got from the community, it was extraordinary. We used social media to galvanise the community and before long we had over 2000 local members. We raised over 2000 pounds in two weeks, which paid for us to put ten rough sleepers in hotels and feed 20 people twice a day over a two week period. We were overwhelmed with offers of donations of food, clothing, bedding, tents, dog food, time, energy, skills and everything we could possible need. Enough for an army and because of social media, offers are still coming in. Schools are involved too, kids are organising tag days, talking about the issues in their school and walking around with hand written t shirts with our campaign name on it. So the kids are getting educated on local issues. The reception we got from the rough sleepers was amazing, All of a sudden these people were no longer a pile of damp blankets in the corner but people with names, backgrounds, stories and personalities. They had a chance to get clean and fed and live a normal life. They were joining in at the discos in the hotel, playing pool and playing darts. They look and behave like any other member of the community. The change in some of them is amazing. We found one guy with a serious heart condition who was in a real state, he was missing hospital appointments and a life saving operation to his heart because he couldn’t get to the hospital which is miles away. He’d had his medication stolen on the streets and didn’t know how to access medical services or a GP. One of our lovely volunteers is now looking after him and driving him to his appointments. Why didn’t we know about him before? Why was he on the streets unidentified by current services? This is a gap in service provision. The campaign became a kind of ‘cyber’ outreach service. We went out, all times of the day and night and searched them out, talked to them, asked them what they needed and gave them care and attention and made them feel part of the community. Outreach budgets have been cut by this government and Porchlight, the service that provides care on the streets in the community have had services cut back to such an extent that they can’t get out for days or weeks. So this is what we were providing, outreach from the community. This is the biggest gap in service provision and sorely needed. Through direct contact with rough sleepers, we quickly established what they needed. Rough sleepers told us that they didn’t always know what was available and most still don’t even after our efforts. There was a distinct lack of knowledge or the ability to retain knowledge about what was available, where and when to go for food, where to go for medical help and get prescriptions etc. We also realised that it was often a challenge for people to remember these things and some didn’t know their entitlements regarding housing and benefits and others forgot to sign for benefits or register in the morning for emergency accommodation that night etc. The new benefit sanctions recently applied meant that some of them, who were late signing on, were sanctioned for four weeks which meant they were forced to beg. Some people have drug and alcohol problems, or mental health problems and simply can’t be expected to get themselves off the cold street and into an office to sign on. They don’t have watches or phones and they don’t use diaries. It’s simply too much for them. They need Outreach services. They told us that they were confused, there are plenty of services available in Folkestone, but where were they? What time did they need to be there, what day? When did the drop in centre open? when did it shut? Do they go to the council for housing or the drop in centre? what time do they need to register for getting into the winter shelter? We did our best to answer their questions and although our knowledge was limited at first, it certainly isn’t now. One of our major wins for rough sleepers was that we finally got the council to activate their Severe Weather Emergency Protocol (SWEP) policy. We have an email from the Chief Executive of the council stating that the policy is in place and is activated when the temperatures consistently reach 0 degrees. Temperatures when we started this campaign were as low as minus 2 and people were sleeping on the streets. Unaware of the protocol. We know that the protocol however, WAS NOT IN PLACE. Evidence of this is in the radio interview on Academy FM. The council stated, and I quote, “when the temperature drops below minus 3 degrees, the council place single people into bed and breakfast for the duration of that severe weather”. You can hear this on the link. So, if the guidelines were in place, as claimed by SDC, when this campaign started, it means that people should have been accommodated by SDC and not funded by the community via this group. If the guidelines were not in place, then this campaign has reminded SDC that they were following, or communicating the wrong guidelines. This is confusing I know but the upshot is that people were sleeping on the streets unnecessarily, whatever way you look at it. Last Friday, at the emergency meeting, we handed the people who were in our care back to SDC. Because they didn’t communicate with us on the Sunday, we lost them when they left their hotels. We have no idea who is accommodated and who is not. We have had confirmation, from the Chief Executive of SDC, that 6 have been served under the SWEP policy, we are not sure what happened to the other four. This is a gap in provision. Services are there but not communicated. People could die out there in the cold. This problem needs strong leadership, which should probably be council led, I don’t know, it needs better communication, collaboration from SDC, decisive action and creative solutions. Preventative measures need to be looked at to avoid homelessness in the first place and short, medium and long term solutions need to be found. There are some brilliant models out there. This campaign didn’t have a purpose but it found one and we have raised awareness of a very real issue. Please donate to our cause on
http://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/friends-of-rough-sleepers-shepway-fors-1,
