Emergency homeless shelters open across London as freezing weather hits

Refuges available all weekend across London as part of a new initiative to protect rough sleepers from low temperatures

Shoppers walk past a homeless person begging on Oxford Street in central London on 22 December, 2018 (AFP/Getty Images)

Emergency shelters for London’s homeless opened across the city last night after the Met Office predicted sub-zero temperatures would grip the capital.

Sadiq Khan said the refuges would remain open all weekend as part of a new city-wide agreement for severe weather shelters to open whenever London’s temperature is predicted to drop below zero.

It’s only the second time these shelters have opened since London councils signed up to the Mayor’s ‘In For Good’ principle, which pledges that once someone enters a shelter they should be allowed to remain there until a plan for long-term support is put in place.

More than 700 spaces at shelters funded by City Hall and London’s local authorities are available, alongside more than 600 spaces in shelters run by faith and community groups.

Shelters were previously open on a borough-by-borough basis, which meant that support was less comprehensive.

Mr Khan said: “This time of year is often when the most bitter cold weather hits. At City Hall, we are doing all we can to help people off the streets, and Londoners are playing their part too.”

The Mayor’s annual homelessness campaign saw the rollout of contactless donation points, a new way for Londoners to donate to homelessness charities.

In the first fortnight of the campaign, there were also more than 1,500 referrals to Streetlink, which the public can use to alert charities and support workers of those who are sleeping rough.

Since its launch last year, people using the donation points have raised more than £23,000 in £3 increments for the London Homeless Charities Group, which comprises 22 national and regional charities.

Homelessness in the capital rose each year between 2013 and 2017, official figures from the Department for Housing, Communities and Local Government (DHCLG) show.

On "a snapshot night" in autumn 2017 the DHCLG found 1,137 rough sleepers on the city’s streets, however in November Shelter estimated the number of people without a home in London to be more than 170,000, equating to one in 52 people.

“We must be clear that to truly end homelessness, government ministers must stop ignoring the fact that their policies are pushing more people onto the streets,” Mr Khan said.

Last year, more than 600 homeless people died in England and Wales – an increase of 24 per cent over the last five years.

As the year came to a close, one man was found dying outside the entrance to parliament, for the second time within the space of 10 months.

Additional reporting by PA