Opinion: Helping Ipswich's rough sleepers and homeless

At a time when we all wish to be with family and friends, we should spare a thought for thousands of people who are homeless this Christmas.

Most visible are those sleeping rough on the streets but there are many times more who are currently in temporary accommodation because they have been thrown out by their landlord or had their home repossessed.

Ipswich Borough Council has invested significantly in helping people who are homeless. When Labour first took control of the council 11 years ago, our temporary accommodation for homeless families was located in a former Victorian workhouse supplemented by portacabins. We now have two modern units at East and West Villas, converted from disused sheltered housing, which provide individual flats for families and single people.

David Ellesmere

These units give safe, warm and dignified temporary accommodation for people until they can find a permanent new home.

Because we have invested heavily to expand this provision, we never have to place people who have been made homeless into temporary accommodation outside Ipswich. Many councils do place people out of their area which can make it very difficult for children to stay at their old school, disrupting their education.

We have also built eight new “micro homes” at Armitage Place as a halfway house to help people who have been sleeping rough move on to permanent housing. These mini houses come with lots of support to help the residents get used to budgeting and looking after their homes so they will have a much better chance of holding down a regular tenancy when they move on. Most of all they give the residents the dignity of having their own front door and a space they can call their own.

These are great initiatives and I’m really proud of them, but they weren’t without controversy.

East Villa homeless families unit and Armitage Place were opposed vociferously by the Ipswich Conservatives who campaigned against both schemes in separate local elections. They demonised the people who would be using them, whipping up fears of crime and anti-social behaviour in the surrounding area.

Ipswich Borough has been working tirelessly with partners to help the town's homeless people and rough sleepers. Picture: Shutterstock (Image: Shutterstock)

Needless to say, the problems they predicted for nearby residents have not come to pass and I’d like to think that Conservative Party members involved in those disgraceful campaigns now look back on them with a sense of shame.

Despite all the investment we’ve made there are still people sleeping rough. This is being made worse by the escalating cost-of-living crisis and the fact that the Government, despite its promises, still hasn’t legislated to stop “no fault” evictions which are the major cause of people being made homeless.

There is a great deal of work being undertaken with people who are sleeping rough by many organisations in Ipswich.

Last week the Star and East Anglian highlighted the work of Ipswich Housing Action Group (ihAg) and in particular their outreach work.

Rough sleeping is a very complex issue and much more than “not having somewhere to stay”.

The support is there for people to get off the streets, but some can’t or won’t take this up either because of lack of trust following earlier bad experiences or because behaviour or addiction makes it hard to follow the rules of accommodation providers. These can be the most challenging people to help but we won’t give up on anyone and ihAg’s outreach work is vital in trying to persuade them to accept the help on offer.

If you see someone sleeping rough who you think isn’t known about, or isn’t being helped, please report this at www.streetlink.org.uk so they can be contacted by the outreach team.

You might also consider making a donation to a local charity helping homeless people, such as ihAg, for Christmas.

Wishing all Ipswich Star and EADT readers a very Happy Christmas and a Peaceful New Year.