This time of the Coronavirus is a very worrying time for many people across the city but for one sector of our population it must be terrifying. Homeless people are perhaps the most vulnerable in any society but at a time like this when they cannot self-isolate and if they get ill are in serious difficulties (many have underlying health conditions), with so few people on the street to offer them food and support, their crisis is huge.
We know that the government has asked all local authorities to take all their rough-sleepers and place them in hotels or houses where they can be supported and cared for. Hostels are not the way forward as we learnt during our Engage Seminar Series 2019 when we heard from Juha Kahila from Finland about how they had simply decided that housing was a human right and in one fell-swoop removed all morality from the issue. Everyone deserves, has a right, to a home. You don’t have to earn it, it’s your basic right as a citizen and human being.
Liverpool City Council at the time of publishing this article are looking for places to house all our homeless people so no-one is left on the streets and as of Thursday 2nd April we expect everyone to have been housed with the help of some Aparthotels and our wonderful Housing Associations spread across the city.
You can read more about this issue in these articles;
- The Guardian 19.04.20 Fears of ‘catastrophic’ coronavirus outbreak among homeless in hostels
- The Guardian 31.03.20 Europe’s homeless hit hard by coronavirus response
- The Independent 30.03.20 Coronavirus: Homeless people ‘scared and hungry’ on streets
- Yorkshire Evening Post 28.03.20 Leeds charity housing homeless people in city hotel during coronavirus outbreak
- SkyNews 27.03.20 Coronavirus: Councils in England asked to house all rough sleepers by the weekend
- Liverpool Echo 26.03.20 Liverpool’s homeless to be put up in hotels during Coronavirus lockdown
- The Bristol Cable 25.03.20 Rough sleepers of Bristol and the search for a safe place amid coronavirus
We will try and update this article once we know who is supporting Liverpool’s homeless people with accommodation.