Homelessness services in Tower Hamlets have teamed up with their counterparts in Poland and Romania to provide better support to the growing number of Central and Eastern European rough sleepers in the capital.
Led by Providence Row and in partnership with Thames Reach’s Tower Hamlets Street Outreach Response Team (SORT) and the Tower Hamlets local authority, the EU10 project aims to help more destitute rough sleepers to return home voluntarily to their families and social services.
Funded by the London Housing Foundation, it involves staff exchange programmes to foster better understanding of social care provision in Central and Eastern Europe, and to cut through language and cultural barriers.
Initial one week visits were made to services in Poland and Romania in March and April and reciprocal visits to London are taking place in June and July for staff from homelessness services from these countries – where they will be embedded within London homelessness services.
Despite over two thousand Central and Eastern Europeans being helped home voluntarily in the past four years, many others have become entrenched rough sleepers in the capital since European enlargement in 2004 and 2007. The latest annual figures indicate that 1772 or 28 per cent of rough sleepers in London are now from Central or Eastern Europe.
Many have serious health problems such as substance misuse issues or poor mental health and some don’t benefit from the same safety net that UK rough sleepers have such as the right to claim housing benefit, which would pay for their accommodation in a hostel – recent changes to European Economic area entitlements have made it even tougher.
Pam Orchard, CEO of Providence Row said: “The number of people from EU10 countries in our homelessness population in London is an uncomfortable subject for many. We don’t make policy, but we are dealing with the consequences. For people from EU10 countries with poor English language skills, mental health problems or substance misuse, there is little chance of them entering the UK job market. They are usually not entitled to access services in the UK. In these cases we believe that helping them to return to their country of origin into professionally run services is a much better option than sleeping on the streets.”
Will Norman, who manages the Thames Reach Tower Hamlets SORT, said: “Our fact-finding visits in Poland and Romania have helped us to understand much more about what services are available. This will help to develop our work in referring clients back to services close to clients’ families and social networks, enhancing the likelihood of a successful return home. We are looking forward to hosting staff from these services back in the UK. They will help us to understand more about how we can help homeless people from EU10 countries. By working together we can help people recover from homelessness and have a healthy life as a contributing member of their local community.”
