About our How Do You Sleep at Night? Campaign

What is the issue?

There are 76 rough sleepers in Redbridge who are classified as having no recourse to public funds (NRPF). This is because of the countries they came from to get here. During the pandemic, the government worked with local authorities to support people on the street. However, from 1 April 2022, new immigration rules came in where local authorities will have to hand details of those individuals with no recourse to public funds over. 

Watch our video of Cllr Jas Athwal, Leader of Redbridge Council, talk about this urgent issue:

We have 76 rough sleepers who are in emergency accommodation with no clear route to moving on to a long term housing solution because of their immigration status. They have been provided with emergency accommodation in a mixture of local authority hostels and private bed and breakfasts. They have also received support from commissioned providers to help keep them safe.

Our 'How Do You Sleep At Night?' rough sleeper campaign

We are asking the government to work with us so that we can get this group of people looked after. The horrible fact is that many people sleeping rough will die while out on the street. This is preventable if the government works with us to end rough sleeping for good.

We are campaigning to get the government to listen. Our How Do You Sleep At Night? campaign is based on five key asks:

1. The government must continue to fund emergency accommodation and support until an individual's status is resolved and let rough sleepers claim local housing allowance and welfare benefits to support their costs
2. Commit to solving cases more quickly
3. Lower the amount of evidence that rough sleepers are asked to provide for each year they are in the country
4.  Return the 20-year rule back to the 14-year rule. This rule will resolve most cases
5. Commit to working with us to solve the real cases we are dealing with and use us as best practice

We have a good record of supporting rough sleepers in Redbridge. Since March 2020 and throughout 2021, we have supported 389 rough sleepers and have kept them safe during the pandemic. However, there are no long-term housing options for 76 Redbridge rough sleepers because their immigration status means that they are not legally entitled to access housing support, welfare benefits or work (except for a small pre-settled status group). We are campaigning to change this.