Affordablehousingaction.org recently highlighted two articles about homeless outreach teams operated by local governments in North America. One was based on a research from the United States, which found that local governments lean heavily on their police forces to lead their homelessness responses. The second article, from a remote Canadian town, reflected how police involvement tends to lead police, governments and citizenry alike to view homelessness as criminal behaviour. Try: Police Are Trained To Get Stuff Done. Should That Stuff Include Finding Housing For The Homeless?
This post announces a plan to expand homeless outreach programming in England. It is implemented, not as a local civic response but as a national one. The National Health Service (NHS) is expanding its services to provide more mental health outreach to homeless ‘rough sleepers.’ These folks are well known as a minority (but often highly visible) subclass of a general homeless population. They often suffer from mental health issues that may or may not include drug and/or alcohol use.
The NHS’s intentions are an antidote to the rather depressing reliance in North America on the ‘can-do’ of paramilitary police which, accidentally or otherwise, positions homeless people as criminals.
Read more at NHS England: Rough sleepers in homeless hotspots to benefit from NHS mental health support
