January 06, 2019 - 1298 views
Following on from Colwyn Mayor Stephen Williams creating awareness of the plight of homeless people in our community by camping out in the street in the run up to Christmas, an innovative new app is now available right across Wales to help the welfare of those without anywhere to live.
Members of the public are being urged to download a special Streetlink app onto their phone or computer where they can easily report sightings of people sleeping rough in the area. Following an alert being received, the charity will dispatch a welfare officer or local support to assist the person if help is required.
StreetLink is an effective way to take positive action that has longer-term results. It can enable services to reach rough sleepers more quickly; this has positive impacts on their safety and wellbeing.
It is principally funded by the UK Government (Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government), with additional funding from the Welsh Government.
It is predicted that the North Wales will see further outbreaks of bitterly cold weather after a short cold snap last week and the Severe Weather Emergency Protocol is expected to be activated across many areas of the UK. This means extra emergency shelters are opened and local authorities have made additional provisions available to make sure they are getting people off the streets and into somewhere warm.
The reality of sleeping outside is dangerous whenever it occurs, but it is especially true during the winter when extreme temperatures can kill. Street outreach teams across Wales are likely to be very busy during this time working to find people a warm and dry place to stay, but they will respond to your alert as soon as they can.
To find out more and download the app please visit the Streetlink website.
