In partnership with Horton Housing we have developed a range of services to provide accommodation and support through the Craven Homeless Hub.

We are committed to No Second Night Out which aims to make sure that no-one new to the street has to spend more than one night sleeping rough. The five key principles are: 

• identify rough sleepers and help them immediately
• encourage a community response by helping the public to report when they see rough sleepers
• assess rough sleepers needs quickly and safely
• access emergency accommodation and other services to help support the rough sleeper
• reconnecting to support, accommodation, family and friends, in this country or elsewhere

Report a Rough Sleeper.

If you see a person sleeping rough please report it to the Council - don't assume that we already know about the person. You can contact us in the following ways:  

You can also make a report via Streetlink. Reports can be made at any time online here or telephone 0300 500 0914. Streetlink will pass the information onto the Council the next working day.

Please provide as much information as possible to help us identify the person and their location.

What happens next? 

We will try to make contact and assess the needs of the rough sleeper within 0-3 days of the notification. Rough Sleepers are offered an assessment by Horton Housing and help to get off the streets. This could be by providing them with emergency accommodation, a referral to supported housing or hostels, helping them move back to an area where they have a connection or return to their country of origin.

Horton also offer help with claiming benefits, food parcels, clothing and accessing health care.

Not all rough sleepers want accommodation when we first see them. For many of them they have serious problems or addictions that have led them to be on the streets and unable to cope with day to day responsibilities. We will provide outreach support to those that remain on the streets and encourage them to engage with services in the hope that eventually they feel able to move into accommodation.  

Emergency Accommodation 

There are no direct access hostels or night shelters in Craven for people that are rough sleeping, so this means that we often have to refer people to hostels out of area. Rough Sleepers will be offered accommodation under the homeless legislation if we believe that they are in priority need or vulnerable.

Not all Rough Sleepers can be offered accommodation because they may not be entitled to public assistance, for example they are are a person from abroad. In such cases we will offer outreach support and assistance from local charities

Severe Weather Provision

During periods of severe weather we offer emergency accommodation to anyone rough sleeping. This is in cold weather (when the night time temperature is predicted to be zero degrees or below for 3 consecutive nights), and when other severe weather conditions are predicted (major flood, storms etc.) where there may be a risk to life.