RESIDENTS are being urged to report rough sleepers to Worcester City Council to get them into accommodation over the holidays. 

Rough sleepers across Worcestershire have been enduring the freezing temperatures amid the recent cold snap.

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But as temperatures continue to hit freezing throughout the night, a Severe Weather Emergency Protocol (SWEP) is activated to ensure everybody in the city has the offer of warm and safe emergency accommodation.

And currently, there are arrangements for rough sleepers to be placed in an emergency night shelter in Worcester. 

The council has asked anyone who has spotted a rough sleeper to contact Streetlink via their website or 0300 500 0914. 

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The team will then check if the rough sleeper is already receiving support, and if they are not, support will be provided. 

Councillor Owen Cleary, vice chair of the city council’s Communities Committee, said: “The city council and its partners work hard to support and accommodate rough sleepers and people at risk of homelessness, but despite all the services available you may sometimes still see people on the street.

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"If you see rough sleepers in Worcester, please contact Streetlink at www.streetlink.org.uk or 0300 500 0914 so that we can arrange support for them.”

Worcester residents can support homeless people by making donations to the registered charity partners that work with the City Council to help and support rough sleepers:

  • Caring for Communities & People (CCP)
  • Maggs Day Centre 
  • Streetlink

Figures from National Statistics revealed how many rough sleepers had lost their life in Worcester over the past five years. 

The latest estimates from the ONS suggest there were nine deaths in Worcester between 2017 and 2021.

There were no deaths in the area last year, with the last death of a homeless person occurring in 2020.

Despite this, across the two countries, the ONS estimates 741 homeless people died in 2021, up 8 per cent from 688 the year before, but down from a peak of 788 in 2019.

The total number of deaths includes people who were identified from death records held by the ONS, together with an estimate of the most likely number of additional registrations not identified as homeless people.