As the current spell of freezing temperatures continues, Londoners have been doing more than ever before to help connect rough sleepers with crucial support services in the capital as thousands support the Mayor’s ‘No one needs to sleep rough in London’ campaign.
Londoners have stepped-up over winter to support the campaign, crowdfunding more than £100,000 online for the London Homeless Charities Group and making a record number of referrals via the Streetlink online referral service.
Click here to take action right now to help rough sleepers in London.
This comes at the same as the Mayor changed City Hall policy to open cold-weather shelters more often, by opening them on every night temperatures fall below zero. Under the previous Mayor’s policy, shelters only opened when three consecutive nights of sub-zero temperatures were forecast.
Sadiq did not believe this policy went far enough to help those sleeping rough in the capital, and as a result of his new policy, cold-weather shelters have been open for 24 nights since the beginning of December, compared to the 19 nights they would have been open in this same period under the previous Mayor’s policy.
The Mayor also worked with all 33 London boroughs to help them change their local policies and operate in the same way. The work of boroughs, faith-based organisations, and City Hall means that almost 1,000 spaces have been available across the capital to those who need them on each of the nights when temperatures have fallen below zero.
Click here to find out more about the Mayor's campaign, and how you can #HelpRoughSleepers