More than 100 homeless people in Reading have been moved into settled accommodation.

Between March and August 2020, 264 individuals were provided accommodation through the ‘Everyone In’ initiative aimed at providing all homeless people with temporary housing during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Reading Borough Council (RBC) has gone a step further and managed to house 129 – almost half – of these people permanently.

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Councillor John Ennis, lead member for Housing, revealed the latest situation in response to a question from Green councillor Rob White at RBC’s Full Council meeting on Tuesday, January 26.

Cllr White praised the council’s ‘Everyone in’ response last year and asked for an update on the council’s progress with permanently housing rough sleepers.

The ‘Everyone In’ scheme, set up in March 2020, asked councils to provide an offer of emergency housing to all homeless people.

How many people are still in emergency accommodation?

Of those that were placed in hotels or B&Bs under ‘Everyone In’, 55 people are still in Covid-19 emergency accommodation, according to Cllr Ennis, with a further 10 at Reading Borough Council’s own temporary accommodation sites.

The 26 of those still in emergency accommodation are European Economic Area or third country nationals without recourse to public funds.

Since December 2020, another 35 people have been accommodated in emergency winter accommodation, with 28 of these people still in this emergency accommodation as of writing the answer.

Meanwhile, there are currently between two to six rough sleepers in Reading on any given night so far in January 2021, according to Cllr Ennis.

He said: “Apart from a small number who are offered accommodation, these are known individuals who, either have accommodation available but are temporarily not using it or are refusing to engage with any offer of accommodation.

“Our outreach services continue to work with them to encourage them to accept or use the offer of accommodation.”

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Cllr Ennis also highlighted the difficulties of housing rough sleepers, highlighting a recent case where a homeless person was provided temporary accommodation in a five-star hotel and chose to leave.

But he promised to get the rough sleeping numbers “as low as possible”.

Permanent accommodation plans – including 40 modular homes at Cattle Market

RBC has invested permanent accommodation for rough sleepers, with a 10-bed women-only site opening this month and the development of 40 modular homes at Cattle Market due to be complete in Spring.

The council has successful won Next Steps Accommodation funding from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, which means both accommodation projects will have 24-hour intensive support provision to help the residents rebuild their lives.

Figures below provide a snapshot of people found sleeping rough on the dates indicated.

New guidance – safe accommodation and GP registration

On January 8, 2021, the government provided renewed advice and guidance for local authorities in respect of Covid 19 and people found rough sleeping.

This requires councils to ensure everyone found rough sleeping is made an offer of safe and appropriate accommodation and that steps are taken to ensure that their health needs are assessed and that they are registered with a GP.

The housing needs service is continuing to support those found sleeping rough, making offers of accommodation to all verified rough sleepers including those with no recourse to public funds.

The NHS Housing Outreach Liaison Team (HOLT) has been working with people found sleeping rough since the beginning of the pandemic to assess their clinical needs and to arrange registration with a GP.

An appropriate GP practice has been chosen for these individuals, although registering people has been “challenging due to the chaotic nature of some clients”.

Meanwhile, the council’s housing team is working with Public Health England to pull together contact information so these can be factored into vaccination plans.