In what is now an annual event, volunteers from the Renewal Centre, staff and residents from Solihull Community Housing – Solihull Council’s housing provider – and staff from Solihull Council have provided and delivered Christmas treats for local families in temporary accommodation.
Councillor Karen Grinsell, Deputy Leader of Solihull Council and Cabinet Member with responsibility for Partnerships and Well-being, said: “This year, we have prevented 246 households from becoming homeless and helped 703 people into long term housing. Nonetheless, some families will unfortunately spend their Christmas in temporary accommodation and I hope these Christmas parcels will serve as a reminder to these families that we are still thinking about them and continuing to look for permanent homes for them to move to.
“With the help of our residents, partners and local businesses who actively report people they think are rough sleeping to StreetLink, our outreach team continues to support a small number of people in the borough who regularly sleep rough until they can safely move off the streets and into accommodation. With new funding from the Rough Sleeping Initiative programme, we’ve been able to bring about greater capacity and expertise with our new Rough Sleeper Outreach Team and we are helping more people as a direct result.
“Our message is – nobody needs to sleep rough, let’s work together to help homeless people. Please help us by reporting anyone you think is sleeping rough via StreetLink, the national reporting system. You can also help provide additional support by donating to Change into Action Solihull.”
Anyone faced with homelessness and in need of emergency temporary accommodation should contact Solihull Community Housing (SCH) on 0121 717 1515 (24/7).
To donate to Change into Action Solihull visit - https://changeintoaction.org.uk/solihull/
Anyone who sees someone sleeping rough should contact StreetLink via www.streetlink.org.uk/ or phone 0300 500 0914. The notification will go directly to a street outreach team who will follow up with an offer of help.
If you think someone is in immediate danger always call 999.
Alongside the work Solihull Council is undertaking to prevent homelessness, it is also working with local and national organisations to make sure all Solihull residents get extra help this winter with its Here2Help campaign. To find out more see - https://www.solihull.gov.uk/here2help