FabSwingers.com forum: Severe Weather Emergency Protocol shelters for rough sleepers

By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago

Severe Weather Emergency Protocol shelters are opening in some boroughs in London tonight due to temperatures overnight. If you see someone rough sleeping please make a member of public referral to Streetlink (google for website or phone number or download the app).

For the SWEP process in other areas please check local authority websites.

By *ce WingerMan
over a year ago

P.O. Box DE1 0NQ

There is a different church open every night for homeless folk across Derby through the winter months, this scheme has been running for several years now

By *harpDressed ManMan
over a year ago

Here occasionally, but mostly somewhere else

By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago

"There is a different church open every night for homeless folk across Derby through the winter months, this scheme has been running for several years now

Yes, winter shelter emergency provision is the standard response in localities by charities and church or similar based organisations to provide space (Homeless Link website will tell you local provisions and how people can get referred). The issue in London is not enough space in these - often waiting lists and checking daily if a space has come free - and sometimes the inability to support those more entrenched due to them being staffed by volunteers often and unable to tackle complex barriers some individuals present with. The SWEPs are a statutory responsibility from the Local Authority when temps fall below freezing and are only activated then to try and ensure no one is out when the severe weather hits. The difficulty is mobilising the teams to know where to collect people from and informing rough sleepers at short notice when the actions are a go (as based on temperature) - in fact tonight, not all boroughs (in London) have even activated as the temperature forecast changed...