Rough sleepers a '˜visible problem' in Crawley town centre

Rough sleepers are a '˜visible problem' in the town centre, according to Crawley Borough Council.
Rough sleepers have been seen in and around Queens SquareRough sleepers have been seen in and around Queens Square
Rough sleepers have been seen in and around Queens Square

Members of the council’s Overview and Scrutiny Commission were given a transformation update on the housing options team on Monday night, and the work done since the council department was hit with a large number of homelessness applications in late 2013.

The average time taken to process an application has dropped from 85 days to 34 for accepted bids, and 96 down to 33 days for rejected applications.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

During the meeting, Ian Irvine (Lab, Broadfield North) said Crawley had a ‘visible’ homelessness issue with rough sleepers and there were pressures to do something about it.

Nikki Hargrave, housing options manager, told councillors there was a lot of multi-agency work going on alongside two outreach groups, but said: “There’s a very visible problem in the town centre at the moment.”

She added: “We are trying to raise awareness but the issue of rough sleepers is really complex.”

She explained that the rough sleepers were choosing not to accept help and the outreach team had gone round and spoken to every rough sleeper, but Crawley was ‘very lucrative’ because its residents were ‘generous’, as a beggar could earn an average of £100 a day.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The two main causes of homelessness in Crawley were short-term tenancies coming to an end, and friends or family asking people to leave accommodation.

Nick Hobbs, housing needs manager at CBC, explained that service changes had looked to remove barriers to making quicker decisions on homelessness applications, including making the Housing Help Point more resilient, more training for front-facing staff, and dedicated case workers to reduce handoffs.

They are now processing just under 400 homelessness applications a year.

Crawley Open House operates a hostel and day centre, for more information visit www.crawleyopenhouse.co.uk

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Don’t miss out on all the latest breaking news where you live.

Here are four ways you can be sure you’ll be amongst the first to know what’s going on.

1) Make our website your homepage at www.crawleyobserver.co.uk

2) Like our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/crawleyobserver

3) Follow us on Twitter @Crawley_Obby

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

4) Register with us by clicking on ‘sign in’ (top right corner). You can then receive our daily newsletter AND add your point of view to stories that you read here.

And do share with your family and friends - so they don’t miss out!

The Crawley Observer - always the first with your local news.

Be part of it.