The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has expanded his pan-London Night Transport Outreach team to help more people sleeping rough on the TfL network get the help they need.
Sadiq has committed an additional £200,000 in funding to the outreach service as part of his wider efforts to help more people sleeping rough in the capital this winter. The funding will help provide additional emergency accommodation for people found sleeping rough on the transport network, as well as one-to-one support to secure longer-term routes out of homelessness.
In response to the capital’s worsening crisis in rough sleeping, Sadiq has delivered record funding to homelessness charities and service providers across the capital, and drastically increased City Hall’s rough sleeping budget. At £36.3m, the budget in 2023/24 is now more than four times the £8.45m a year it was when Sadiq took office in 2016 – and more than 16,000 rough sleepers have been supported to leave the streets for good by City Hall services since then.
The Night Transport Outreach team, funded by the Mayor’s rough sleeping budget and delivered by charity partner Thames Reach, is part of the Mayor’s Rapid Response Outreach service, dedicated to providing outreach shifts on TfL night buses, the night Tube and London Overground.
The service, which the Mayor established in 2017 as part of his mission to end rough sleeping in the capital, responds to StreetLink alerts and works in partnership with TfL bus drivers and station staff to locate and support people who are sleeping rough on the night transport network.
The additional investment from the Mayor has been used to recruit the first ‘Hot spot link worker’ to work in partnership with TfL staff, outreach teams and local services to tackle rough sleeping in stations and other TfL locations with high numbers of people needing support. Additional staff members have also joined the night outreach team to respond to StreetLink alerts, work on routes where people are commonly known to sleep rough and provide specialist support.
This year alone, the night outreach service has successfully helped more than 100 Londoners out of homelessness, including those with the most complex personal and safeguarding needs. The most recent case studies captured by Thames Reach show the transformative impact the Mayor’s services has had on the lives of those who were found to be sleeping rough on the TfL network.
This includes a woman in her late forties who had unmet health needs and an unclear immigration status, and a 70-year-old man whose unmet mental health needs meant that he struggled to engage with services and maintain accommodation. Since being discovered by outreach workers in the Mayor’s night transport team, both individuals have been helped into safe, emergency accommodation in their local boroughs and have been referred for ongoing care and support.
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: “Ending rough sleeping in the capital has been a top priority ever since I took office, and I am expanding my pan-London Night Transport Outreach service to help more Londoners sleeping rough on the TfL network into safe accommodation as part of my work to build a better London for everyone.
“Our night outreach workers play an essential role in locating the most vulnerable in our society and supporting them out of homelessness. I’m pleased that more than 16,000 Londoners have been successfully helped off of the streets since I took office, including over 100 Londoners who were identified as sleeping rough on the transport network in this year alone.
“Despite our best efforts, rough sleeping in the capital is sadly on the rise. I fear that current national policy will make ending rough sleeping an impossibility, which is why I remain resolute in my call on Government to urgently act to put an end to the conveyor belt of people being forced into homelessness.”
The Mayor has repeatedly warned that current Government policy, and inaction on the cost of living, housebuilding and protection from eviction, is not only driving more people onto the streets, but also risks making his core mission to end rough sleeping in the capital for good an impossibility.
Latest analysis shows an alarming rise in rough sleeping across the country, including in London. The latest quarterly figures from the City Hall-funded Combined Homelessness and Information Network (CHAIN) shows the number of people sleeping rough in London has risen by 12 per cent in the past year alone.
In 2022-23, 178 people were seen rough sleeping on the TfL network by outreach teams in London.
Bill Tidham, Chief Executive of Thames Reach, said: “Street homelessness takes many forms. For some, the perceived safety of public transport at night can seem a better option than sleeping on the streets, or in a doorway. This safety is an illusion, and we know that prolonged rough sleeping, wherever it is, has a catastrophic impact on your health and your choices in life.
“This funding will ensure our team can find people sleeping on the transport network and support them to take the first step away from street homelessness towards a better life.”
Siwan Hayward, Director of Policing, Security and Enforcement at TfL, said: “No one should be faced with sleeping rough on London’s streets or on public transport. Rough sleepers need specialist support from dedicated outreach services to help them find a permanent route off the streets and we welcome the expansion of the Mayor’s pan-London Night Transport Outreach service. We will continue to work with station staff, local boroughs, and outreach services to help safeguard those sleeping rough or seeking refuge on our network.” Photo by Chabad Lubavitch, Wikimedia commons.