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Outreach

Our teams go out day and night, 365 days a year, to help people to move away from the streets for good.

Outreach

Our teams go out day and night, 365 days a year, to help people to move away from the streets for good.

Rough sleeping is the most visible form of homelessness. It is harmful, dangerous and ruins lives. It is so damaging that men who are sleeping rough can expect to live to 45, and for women it is just 43. We are one of the largest providers of outreach services for people who are rough sleeping in England. Last year our 13 outreach teams supported over 7,000 people sleeping rough.

How does it work?

Our outreach teams go out at night and early in the morning, looking for people sleeping rough to help them away from the streets. Our priority is to get people into safe accommodation.

People who have slept rough might find it hard to trust others because of negative experiences. So we need to gradually build up trust and get to know people individually. Working together with the people we support, we find the best route out of homelessness and towards recovery for them. We also work in partnership with other organisations to help people access accommodation and support, like physical and mental health services, drug and alcohol services, and legal services.

Our top priority with anyone sleeping rough is to get a roof over their head and a safe place to begin their recovery. While this isn’t enough to end their homelessness, it’s a vital first step in making sure their situation stops deteriorating. We have more information on our page hostels and accommodation.

In London, our outreach teams can refer people to our No Second Night Out hubs, which ensure that people arriving on the streets will not sleep rough for a second night. They are safe places for people to be assessed by our professional teams, so plans can be made quickly to support them to the next step, away from the streets. The hubs are not accommodation and we aim for no one to spend more than three days at an NSNO hub. We run three hubs in London that are open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. No Second Night Out was launched in 2011, with the London Mayor’s Task Force.

An individual approach

Our approach to outreach work is the same across all the areas we work, but the services we run are tailored to meet local needs. In Westminster our ‘hotspot teams’ tackle one of the most difficult areas of rough sleeping in the country. Westminster has the largest number of people sleeping rough in the capital and there lots of people who have slept rough for a long time. We work in partnership with other homelessness charities to share expertise and have staff who speak different languages to really get to know people and find the best way to support them away from the streets.

How to support our outreach teams

St Mungo’s outreach teams receive alerts from StreetLink. Alerting local services to people who are sleeping rough can save lives.

You can use StreetLink, the national rough sleeper referral line, to tell our outreach teams, Local Authorities and other homelessness organisations where you’ve seen someone sleeping rough.

The teams can then assess their needs and help them to find the support and accommodation that is right for them.

If you’re interested in supporting StreetLink, there are often volunteering roles for the service, taking phone calls from people who are sleeping rough and sending the details on to relevant outreach teams. Keep an eye on our current volunteering roles page for more details. 

Resources

Related content

Rough sleeping is the most visible form of homelessness. It is harmful, dangerous and ruins lives. It is so damaging that men who are sleeping rough can expect to live to 45, and for women it is just 43. We are one of the largest providers of outreach services for people who are rough sleeping in England. Last year our 13 outreach teams supported over 7,000 people sleeping rough.

How does it work?

Our outreach teams go out at night and early in the morning, looking for people sleeping rough to help them away from the streets. Our priority is to get people into safe accommodation.

People who have slept rough might find it hard to trust others because of negative experiences. So we need to gradually build up trust and get to know people individually. Working together with the people we support, we find the best route out of homelessness and towards recovery for them. We also work in partnership with other organisations to help people access accommodation and support, like physical and mental health services, drug and alcohol services, and legal services.

Our top priority with anyone sleeping rough is to get a roof over their head and a safe place to begin their recovery. While this isn’t enough to end their homelessness, it’s a vital first step in making sure their situation stops deteriorating. We have more information on our page hostels and accommodation.

In London, our outreach teams can refer people to our No Second Night Out hubs, which ensure that people arriving on the streets will not sleep rough for a second night. They are safe places for people to be assessed by our professional teams, so plans can be made quickly to support them to the next step, away from the streets. The hubs are not accommodation and we aim for no one to spend more than three days at an NSNO hub. We run three hubs in London that are open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. No Second Night Out was launched in 2011, with the London Mayor’s Task Force.

An individual approach

Our approach to outreach work is the same across all the areas we work, but the services we run are tailored to meet local needs. In Westminster our ‘hotspot teams’ tackle one of the most difficult areas of rough sleeping in the country. Westminster has the largest number of people sleeping rough in the capital and there lots of people who have slept rough for a long time. We work in partnership with other homelessness charities to share expertise and have staff who speak different languages to really get to know people and find the best way to support them away from the streets.

How to support our outreach teams

St Mungo’s outreach teams receive alerts from StreetLink. Alerting local services to people who are sleeping rough can save lives.

You can use Streetlink, the national rough sleeper referral line, to tell our outreach teams, Local Authorities and other homelessness organisations where you’ve seen someone sleeping rough.

The teams can then assess their needs and help them to find the support and accommodation that is right for them.

If you’re interested in supporting StreetLink, there are often volunteering roles for the service, taking phone calls from people who are sleeping rough and sending the details on to relevant outreach teams. Keep an eye on our current volunteering roles page for more details. 

Resources

Related content