Connect people sleeping rough to local services and support

StreetLink, an app and website that enables the public to connect rough sleepers to services that can help them, has had a revamp!

In Southend, we are lucky to belong to a compassionate community who care about the more vulnerable people in our society. But, often when we speak to members of the public, they are unsure on the best way to help. Last year, we launched a campaign ‘Don’t Just Walk By’, which encouraged the community to talk to people without a permanent home and let them know that they care – this can lead to an increase in confidence, which could be the first step towards overcoming homelessness. However, if you are concerned about the welfare of someone who is sleeping rough, we urge you to use StreetLink to connect people to their local services.

StreetLink have just added new features to their app and website, making it even easier to connect someone with services that could potentially save their lives. An improved mapping function allows people to drop a pin in a map on to the precise location of the person sleeping rough. On top of this, people can add a short description of the location. StreetLink are encouraging people to alert the locations of places where people have bedded down for the night. This reduces the likelihood of someone moving on to a new location during the day before help can get to them and outreach teams often work overnight too.

The app and website now also includes a list of local services. In Southend, this list will include HARP’s Bradbury Day Centre on York Road. At the Bradbury, local homeless people can have a cooked breakfast and lunch, use our washing facilities and receive donations of clean clothing, as well as access to support and HARP accommodation. StreetLink have also added a new community portal where people can check the status and outcome of their alerts and view statistics on all alerts for their area and nationally.

To learn more about StreetLink head over to their website here.