Residents of a town blighted by drugs problems have been urged to speak to homeless people to help tackle the stigma surrounding the issue. Wrexham was dubbed “Spice Town” after images emerged of people under the influence of drugs at its bus station. Figures from earlier this year showed it had 44 rough sleepers – the […]
Liverpool City Council is to introduce a ‘zero tolerance’ approach to rough sleeping in a bid to tackle the issue around the city. Mayor Joe Anderson told the Liverpool Echo that from next year his authority will use a ‘tough love’ approach as it looks to get to grips with some of the root causes […]
The Yummy Scouse Christmas event is spearheaded by Chef Simon Whitter, a former homeless man with the message – “no-one should have no-one at Christmas.” Last year over 1,000 vulnerable and lonely people were invited to share Christmas lunch in eight venues across the city, reports Independent Liverpool. All Saints Kensington was one of those […]
A partnership in Manchester is working to safeguard spice and other street drug users by taking a harm reduction approach. Greater Manchester Police and Manchester Metropolitan University have signed an intelligence-sharing agreement that allows police to use the university’s facilities to see what is in the drugs they have seized using a specialist machine that […]
A group of students from Liverpool John Moores University have been forced to apologise after mocking homeless people by holding a ‘tramps night out’. According to a report in The Metro, the students covered their faces in fake dirt and cut up cheap clothes to dress as rough sleepers before downing alcohol at nightclubs. The […]
Profits from take-away coffee stalls could help those who need it most – and the drinks are served by someone who was struggling to get a job. For those commuters travelling on Virgin Trains, the coffee now comes courtesy of a special social enterprise project called Change Please, reports Sky News. Any money raised is […]
Huge portraits of former rough sleepers and homeless people will take pride of place at Manchester’s biggest train station. The Inspirational Voices exhibition aims to challenge misconceptions of homelessness by capturing each person’s individual achievements and hopes, says the Manchester Evening News. The photographs will be displayed on the concourse at Manchester Piccadilly Train Station. […]
Attacks on people sleeping rough should be treated as hate crimes, the Liverpool mayor has said. Joe Anderson said rough sleepers should be a “protected category” in a letter to the home secretary after a review of hate crime laws was recently announced. It would send the message that the attacks “will never be tolerated”. […]
The Minister for Homelessness, who earlier this year admitted she didn’t know why homelessness was rising, last week acknowledged the increase but said it was “not at the levels we saw 15 years ago”. Heather Wheeler told the Modern Slavery and Homelessness conference in Birmingham last week of the “concerted effort” needed “across all government departments […]
Two men who died within 24 hours of each other on the streets of Manchester city centre this weekend are both believed to have been homeless. The body of a middle aged man was discovered on Deansgate just before 9am on Saturday, followed by that of a 60-year-old man on Princess Street at 5am the next […]
