For the fourth year running, 20 individual rooms are available for people who need them, through the charity It Takes a City (ITaC). The rooms are located near the city centre and each room has its own ensuite facilities.
People housed through the Winter Provision scheme will be able to retain their room until suitable longer-term accommodation becomes available. Each resident will be supported to agree a resettlement plan, to help them to move on quickly from the project into longer-term housing.
The scheme will be accepting new residents until the end of February 2025. The service will then stay open for residents already in the accommodation until the end of March.
Beds are available to anyone who has been verified as sleeping rough by the Cambridge Street Outreach team, and who is locally connected to Cambridge. Rough sleepers with no connection to Cambridge will be offered support to access accommodation in their local area.
The winter provision is being funded by a combination of a council grant, charitable donations and grant funding to ITaC.
The landlord of the main Winter Provision site is CATS Global Schools. Volunteers from ITaC and the Cambridge Churches Homelessness Project will help to run the project, including providing hot meals to residents.
The Winter Provision forms part of a much wider network of services offered by the council and partners in Cambridge to help people find and sustain accommodation, and to access the support they need to leave the streets for good.
Many of the rough sleepers the council works with have significant physical and mental health challenges, or long-standing addiction problems. Nobody can be compelled to accept or remain in accommodation offered to them, with some people who are used to being part of a street-based community finding it very difficult to remain in accommodation and off the streets.
Cllr Cameron Holloway, Executive Councillor for Community Safety, Homelessness and Wellbeing, said:
“We are delighted to once again be working with partners across the city to deliver this much needed service. Working together, we have shown that we can provide real support and enable change for those that need it.
“No one should have to sleep rough, especially not in the winter. I encourage anyone who needs it to make use of this offer of accommodation – you’ll also be offered support and advice to address your specific needs, and help to move into safe, longer-term housing.”
There are many ways residents can help rough sleepers, including:
- Report if someone is sleeping rough via Streetlink by calling 0300 500 0914 or visiting streetlink.org.uk
- Donate to Cambridge Street Aid, the charitable fund helping people to get off, and stay off, the streets. This can be done via one of the many contactless giving points in the city or via the online giving page:
https://www.justgiving.com/campaigns/charity/cambridgeshirecommunity/csa
- Visit the Street Support website for further details of the services operating in the city: streetsupport.net/cambridge/
- Find out more about the help available in the city for single homeless people and people sleeping rough at cambridge.gov.uk/services-for-rough-sleepers
Image: South agency, Getty Images Signature via Canva
