A message from Daniel Gould, Street Population Coordinator, Canterbury City Council
Severe Weather Emergency Provision (SWEP) is made available for Canterbury rough sleepers when temperatures drop below zero degrees.
Eligibility
The SWEP places are only available for those rough-sleeping in Canterbury or in real and imminent danger of rough-sleeping and are not available to those who are in over-crowded accommodation, squatting or sofa surfing. It is not dependent on benefit or similar eligibility status e.g. people without legitimate immigration status etc.
Referral
Should you see a rough sleeper who you believe is in need of assistance, please contact Canterbury City Council’s housing team on 01227 862518 (9am to 5pm) or Catching Lives on 01227 464904 (9am to 2.30pm). Outside of these hours and at the weekend, call their control room on 01227 781879. This is open 24/7.
When contacting them, please provide as much information as possible about the location of the individual you are calling about.
Accommodation
The places will be on mattresses in communal areas of Catching Lives. The accommodation will only be available for the duration of the Severe Weather. Whilst support maybe offered to enable people to leave rough-sleeping this is essentially an accommodation only offer.
Streetlink
If you are concerned about someone sleeping rough, who will not accept the offer of help, please let us know by using the Streetlink website to send an alert. The details you provide are sent to the local authority for the area in which you have seen the person, to help them find the individual and connect them to support.
