Call for co-ordinated action from agencies

The voluntary and statutory sectors must work together to stop
vulnerable homeless people remaining on the streets, homelessness
charities Crisis and Shelter have urged.

Their scheme, Millennium Plus, which supports and advises
homeless people via “winterwatch” multi-agency projects across
England, helped 1,399 people last year. Of these, 30 per cent had
drug problems, 28 per cent had alcohol problems and 20 per cent had
mental heath problems.

The charities recommend that agencies adopt the Millennium Plus
model to help people at risk of homelessness, pointing out that it
enables the most vulnerable people to have their problems assessed
individually and then find solutions through support services from
the relevant agencies.

Shelter’s director of housing, Christine Parrish, said homeless
people remained stuck on the streets because agencies did not have
a co-ordinated response.

“It is vital that all agencies – government and voluntary –
recognise the importance of working together to tackle the
problems,” she said.

– Millennium Plus: A Good Practice Model for Tackling Street
Homelessness from 020 7505 4699