The Homelessness Picture in Southend-on-Sea

My name is Jackie Bliss, and I’m the CEO of HARP, Southend’s leading homelessness charity. At HARP, we know that homelessness is a key concern of residents in the City of Southend-on-Sea. When I was invited to write this piece for the Oracle, I jumped at the opportunity to provide readers with an update on homelessness in Southend.

We have seen some excellent progress in reducing the numbers of people sleeping rough Southend in recent years. The official 2021 street count reported 10 people sleeping rough in the town in November. This is significantly down from the record 72 people estimated to be sleeping rough back in November 2017. Despite this progress, residents still have understandable concerns, and we share their conviction that one person sleeping rough in our City is one too many.

Reliable support network

An important question we get asked a lot at HARP is related to the origins of the people that use our services - many people wonder if homeless people in Southend are from the area originally, or from other areas in the country, or perhaps even from abroad. Between April 2021 and the end of December 2021, of the total 874 clients who accessed our services, 91% were from Southend or Essex. 3% of our total clients were from London, and 6% were from elsewhere, which includes anywhere else in the UK, or further afield. One of the key elements of success for our clients is having a reliable support network, such as friends and family. That’s why when people from other

New Bluebird development in Southchurch Avenue

Finally, I want to highlight HARP’s continued push to provide new housing solutions to help more local people overcome homelessness. One such project is our brand new Bluebird development in Southchurch Avenue. Bluebird will house up to 50 formerly homeless clients and is particularly aimed at (although not exclusively available to) a younger demographic, whose needs are often not met by existing homelessness provisions. We know that Bluebird has the power to change many hundreds of lives over the next decade and beyond, as people get the support they need to develop the skills to maintain a tenancy of their own in the wider community. But we can’t do it alone, so if you want to help provide blue skies and brighter futures for local people experiencing homelessness, please visit our website at www.harpsouthend.org.uk and support our Bluebird appeal. Together, we can build on recent successes and help more local people overcome homelessness for good.

The Homelessness Picture in Southend-on-Sea

Website:

www.harpsouthend.org.uk

Head Office:0

4th Floor, Dencora Court, Tylers Avenue, Southend-on-Sea, Essex SS1 2BB

HARP is a registered charity no: 1098126

areas approach us for support, one of the first things we will try to do is assess whether it is realistic for them to return to their home town or city, where their local support should be stronger. If it is feasible to support them to return, then we will do that, working with partner agencies across the country (and sometimes the world!) to seek the best outcomes for our clients. Sometimes, reconnecting with a hometown might not be feasible, perhaps because a client is fleeing domestic or other types of violence or threats, and in these cases we will do what we can to support them within the resources that we have available. Over the years, we have also been asked whether the success of our services might be attracting homeless people to Southend-on-Sea. Aside from the fact that the vast majority of our clients are Essex born and bred, alongside our colleagues at Southendon-Sea City Council, we work to prioritise accommodation for people with a local connection. The Homelessness Reduction Act makes it clear that local authorities across the UK have a duty to support their own local residents with housing needs, and the Act provides a framework for helping local authorities to liaise on the logistics of reconnecting they people with their hometowns so that can get the right support in the best possible place.

Jackie Bliss, HARP Chief Executive

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