Thread by @emily4MK

5 years ago Milton Keynes was dubbed ‘tent city’ by the media. Today, no one needs to sleep rough on our streets. How did we do it? A thread by the Cabinet Member responsible 👇

https://twitter.com/pmdfoster/status/1720537830730920055

For starters we didn’t make tents a civil offence. Tents are a symptom, not the cause. Firstly you need somewhere that people can go so we built a shelter on the top floor of the old bus station. On the ground floor we brought together all voluntary and statutory services 2/11

So everyone has a warm and safe bed for the night and in the morning, they have access to all the services they might need from a cuppa and a friend to a GP and mental health services. This was no easy feat to get all homeless services to work together but it creates success 3/11

People who sleep rough lead chaotic lives and are very vulnerable to exploitation. They often have mental health conditions and self medicate to survive. Having services under one roof means they do not fall between the gaps and are treated as a whole person 4/11

The hairdressers and laundry means they can regain self respect. The number of people who have gone on from the Old Bus Station into employment and their own place is incredible because of the hard work of staff and volunteers 5/11

We still get many who do not succeed but we are there to catch them again. If you have been living on the streets for years, one night in a shelter is not going to solve all your problems. It takes persistence, patience and understanding 6/11

We still have some people that refuse to come in. 16 at last count to be precise. They are well known to the Council and are visited everyday to ask if they will accept help. My hope is one day they will. But if we force them, we are setting them up to fail. 7/11

Instead we need to support them. We need to remain humble and not treat them like children. Homelessness can happen to any of us. We must not forget this 8/11

So making tents a civil offence, creating a record is not the way to end rough sleeping Suella Braverman. Bringing together services both statutory and voluntary to embrace someone and help them up is the only road to success. 9/11

Let’s talk more about the underlying problems: lack of mental health provision, cuts in addiction treatment, lack of affordable housing and many other issues this government has made worse over 13 years in power 10/11

Finally a huge thank you to all the partners in MK working together to support rough sleepers @mkcouncil @tvp_mk @WNSMK001 @DREAMSAIMK @CNWLPeople The Arc, Probation, GP and many more that make this possible - End