Action to help rough sleepers in Sheffield get off the streets

Sheffield City Council is advertising for an outside agency to provide a support service for rough sleepers and ex-offenders who are at risk of sleeping rough.

The advertisement on the government’s contract finder website states: “The service will work proactively to prevent and end rough sleeping. This will involve taking the lead in terms of outreach work as part of a broader partnership approach to eliminate rough sleeping.

“This will be done by targeting and engaging people at risk of becoming rough sleepers, early interventions with people at risk of or new to rough sleeping and working to change the behaviour of entrenched rough sleepers and those resistant to change.”

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It adds: “The service will work proactively with people who have a history of offending or involvement in the criminal justice system and who are at risk of sleeping rough. This will involve taking an active role in liaising with prisons and probation service.”

The five-year contract is set to start on May 31. Its value is £3,108,220. Applications close on March 1 at noon.

To find out more about the help on offer to rough sleepers in Sheffield, including accommodation during extreme cold weather, go to the city council website: www.sheffield.gov.uk/housing/help-for-rough-sleepers

The council recently agreed to go out to public consultation on whether to introduce a public spaces protection order in the city centre. This would target street drinking, begging or loitering near cash machines or bank or supermarket doorways.