Street outreach

People sleeping rough may not always seek support, for a variety of reasons. They may not know where to go or may have difficulty trusting others, they may be facing issues such as mental health or addiction problems that hinder them. Local outreach teams seek out people sleeping on the streets and connect them with the support they need. Their work can be life-saving, particularly in times of extreme weather such as freezing temperatures, when they help get people into emergency accommodation.

Outreach teams from SPEAR in south-west London go out and about late at night and early in the morning to locate people sleeping rough on the streets and offer them support, gradually building trust with people over time with the aim of helping a person move forward. They offer immediate help such as providing warm clothes, sleeping bags, and travel cards to get to appointments, and they help people to access day centres.

They then work to secure people safe accommodation, and access to any other services they may need. The outreach team is very often the first point of contact for people, and the start of their journey away from the streets. They play a key role in getting people off the streets and connected into support services, breaking the cycle of homeless for many of London’s rough sleepers.