Helen Loosemore, Becky Ward, Dr John Sentamu, Dave Knowles

A new scheme to help rough sleepers find a bed has been launched in York. Agencies involved in No Second Night Out are pooling their resources to identify all the bed spaces available to rough sleepers. It makes the most out of existing provision by clearing the information through one point of access.

No Second Night Out (NSNO) is linked to Streetlink and a single reporting line – 0300 500 0914 – for the whole country. Anyone from York calling the number will be diverted through to local project workers. Members of the public are also encouraged to use the number to report the whereabouts of people they see who are  sleeping rough. Reports can also be made through the website and a smartphone app. Outreach workers will then seek them out to offer assistance. The service is primarily to help people who are new to the streets. It is inevitable that there are entrenched rough sleepers who are already known to homeless and  resettlement services that will more difficult to place.

Anyone reporting a rough sleeper will be offered an update a few days later to let them know how the situation was resolved.

The new service was launched by The Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, at the Salvation Army in York on Monday 7th January 2013. The invited guests were given an overview of the scheme by Helen Loosemore of Homeless Link and Becky Ward of City of York Council Homeless Services. The Archbishop, who was the sponsor of the York Fairness Commission, spoke of the need for justice for the most vulnerable people in our society. He observed that NSNO was based on people making connections. He concluded by asking all present to link hands to demonstrate the need for good connections to meet the needs of rough sleepers in the city.

Earlier Becky Ward, the author of York’s Homelessness Strategy, said that NSNO was step to ending rough sleeping in York, although due to recent spending restrictions the small number of known rough sleepers in the city had risen since 2010.

Now that the service has launched Restore will be looking at ways of engaging faith communities in York in the scheme.

Within the next two months we will providing another nine rooms in two new houses. After a long wait for our second house things are now moving fast. Our partners Green Pastures Housing will complete the purchase of our second house towards the end of February and we have also secured a lease on a five bedroomed house in Clifton which starts on February 1st. TWO houses.  It’s really exciting but also challenging. Our need for volunteers and supporters suddenly moves into a higher gear. As someone who has shown support and interest in the work of Restore (York) we are sure you will rise to the challenge with us and continue your support. One simple way to help is to forward our newsletter to friends who may be interested in our work.