The move, running from 9am on Thursday 12 November until midday on Saturday 14 November means the council, working with partners, provides additional emergency safe spaces for people sleeping rough in freezing conditions that could pose a threat to life.
SWEP is usually activated when the Met Office forecasts temperatures of zero degrees Celsius. But Lambeth’s protocol is to consider ‘feels like’ temperatures as well as ‘actual’ temperatures so the protocol has been activated from now as temperatures are forecast to feel like zero degrees or below in the early hours of Friday morning , overnight on Friday and into Saturday morning.
Cabinet Member for Housing, Cllr Pete Elliott said: “Our priority is to make sure that anyone sleeping rough in Lambeth has somewhere safe and warm to stay during the most severe cold weather.
“Working with our outreach partners, we are doing everything we can to reach people sleeping rough and ensure that everyone who needs emergency accommodation can be accommodated here in Lambeth.”
Lambeth’s outreach team works across the borough, engaging and supporting rough sleepers 7 days a week and will carry out enhanced checks from 6am on Thursday.
Everyone sleeping rough is offered emergency accommodation during SWEP, regardless of their usual eligibility for support, including people with no recourse to public funds. Lambeth offers placements to couples who wish to stay together and people with dogs, both during SWEP and throughout the year.
If you are concerned about someone sleeping rough, please report this via StreetLink – this ensures each report is directed to the most appropriate outreach team, who will be on shift to support the person sleeping rough.
If you have concerns regarding a rough sleeper during the day, you can also direct them to local Day Centres in Lambeth for support. The three Day Centres in Lambeth are:
- South London charity Spires runs day centres on different days across the borough including women-only drop-ins
- Webber St day centre, 6-8 Webber Street, London SE1 8QA
- Ace of Clubs day centre, St Alphonsus Road, London SW4 7AS
