Background
A Government commitment is that no rough sleeper should have to spend a second night out (Vision to end Rough Sleeping No Second Night Out July 2011) and in 2018 the MHCLG launched a Rough Sleeping Strategy setting out the Government’s vision for halving rough sleeping by 2022 and ending it by 2027. In September 2022, DLUHC (Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities) updated the national strategy for rough sleeping, ‘Ending Rough Sleeping For Good).
The Council is committed to working with partners to link rough sleepers with the services that can help them find a way off the streets and into settled accommodation. However, in times of extreme and cold weather, rough sleepers are particularly vulnerable to harm and death.
This paper provides the Coventry approach to delivering this Winter Plan in Coventry. It sets out how the City Council and its partner organisations will ensure the city’s most vulnerable households are able to access appropriate accommodation and support during severe weather situations over the winter months. It is also founded on the principle that at no time does anyone have to sleep rough on the city’s streets.
In establishing the cities approach the City Council and its partners have had regard to a range of issues, including:
- The severity of weather conditions;
- The continuation of severe weather over a prolonged period;
- The capacity and resources available to the City Council and its partners; and
- The expectations and needs of rough sleepers