Research by Homeless Link has found that last winter
emergency homeless shelters played a vital role in preventing the deaths of
many rough sleepers.
A survey revealed that 4,863 people sought shelter from the
cold during the last winter, a quarter of whom had not approached services for
help before. With the number of people rough sleeping having gone up by 31% in
the past two years, the research indicates that more areas provided winter-long
shelter last year and stayed open for longer, on average six months, because of
the prolonged cold snap. However,
changes to welfare could leave many services facing a challenging winter this
year. The survey showed that a third of shelters were funded to some extent by
housing benefit, but there remains a great deal of uncertainty over whether
these payments will continue once Universal Credit is launched. Read more on the Homeless Link website.
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