Single Homeless Project’s Kay Campion with Chris, who spent a month at the St Giles Project before moving into long-term accommodation

HOTEL rooms are being offered to rough sleepers this winter following government funding, but council leaders warn it is not enough to end homelessness.

Inspired by the pandemic’s Everyone In scheme, where all rough sleepers were put up in hotels, Westminster and Camden councils have secured £28million to build something similar during the winter months. One-third of all rough sleepers in London are in the two boroughs.

The funding will give homeless people in Westminster access to 25 beds, and Camden 21 beds until March in the plush St Giles Hotel, near Tottenham Court Road. Those staying in St Giles will be given food and immigration, health and employment support.

Kay Campion, service manager at the Single Homelessness Project (SHP) who are running the St Giles Project, told the Extra: “We opened on November 1 and within three days we were full. There’s a real demand and even now we have referrals from people who are on the waiting list. It’s been really positive.”

People with no recourse to public funds, NRPF, who would otherwise not be able to use local authorities’ homelessness support are allowed in.

Ms Campion said: “We open the doors to everybody. We have a large number of NRPF people who are given immigration and legal advice. There’s been a lot of positive things going on. The challenge will be somebody with NRPF to access a move-on route. That’s why we are working really hard to make sure those that can work will work and those who can’t, we can make a plan to see what we can do.”

Tyron Julien, assistant director of services at SHP, said the main aim was to resettle everyone who stays in St Giles into independent accommodation. He said: “The project is aimed at helping people with low to medium needs because they fall through the gap of services as they don’t meet the threshold for some statutory services but still need support. So far we’ve resettled 15 people in six weeks. They’ve all got support workers there to help them.”

Ashley, 28, currently staying at St Giles praised the staff’s “high energy” and “emotional support”. She used to sleep in Victoria station after moving from Europe to the UK.

“This has really helped me to have some peace of mind. It’s been a lot of emotional support. I left an abusive situation and being here, it’s been amazing, having Kay to talk to and the staff in general are really caring. They do welfare checks on us twice a day.

“Especially it being so private, I feel very comfortable. It was very uncomfortable in the train stations… I had to get someone to watch my bags and it was a quick rush to use the bathroom and stuff like that.

“I saw the snow for the first time the other day. When I was in the station it was pouring with rain. So the snow reminded me that I am meant to be here. And what a blessing that is.”

Westminster City Council leader Adam Hug said: “It’s exactly the type of support you want to see, it’s not just a hotel room but that wrap-around care. It’s giving them that pathway and support to move on from here that’s really exciting and that’s the model we want to use in the future”.

He added that while the additional funding is helpful, the scale of the challenge is huge and that will not immediately put an end to homelessness in Westminster.

While the project helps deal with the immediate homelessness crisis, Camden leader Georgia Gould said it doesn’t treat the root cause, the lack of affordable housing in the capital. But she said: “In the short-term, increasing the number of rooms that people have to start to build their lives from is a great start.”

St Giles’s CEO Abigail Tan said: “We took part in the Everyone In scheme in lockdown. But what we’re looking for in the future is a more long-term, full-time, solution because homelessness exists all throughout the year, not just in the cold months.”