Rough Sleepers Moved From Hotels to ‘Shocking’ Accommodation During Lockdown

A UK government scheme to place vulnerable homeless people in hotels during COVID lockdowns ended with people being moved to substandard accommodation featuring rats, bed bugs, and unsanitary living conditions.

That’s according to a new report from King’s College London, which includes interviews with 35 homeless people in London over a period of three months.

The scheme took place during the first coronavirus-enforced lockdown last March, when homeless people were initially placed in hotels. The scheme itself was successful, but it was the housing provision that followed that failed, the report says.

According to the the majority of people interviewed, the temporary accommodation offered after the participants were “moved on” from hotels was of a poor standard, with many complaining of pest infestations and dirty living conditions.

Some reported having to sleep and urinate outside due to the bad conditions of the secondary, temporary accommodation. Respondents also reported being placed in accommodation where it was impossible to social distance.

The report comes as a new national lockdown has come into place, and figures show that over 70,000 households have been forced into homelessness as a result of the pandemic. In March, the government launched an innovative scheme to stop the spread of coronavirus among homeless people, placing many in empty hotels. The “Everyone In” policy, which housed 15,000 in emergency accommodation, was quietly ended in May, where the participants were later rehoused in other temporary accommodation. One study has suggested that the scheme saved 266 lives. 

While the report found numerous instances of poor housing provisions in the aftermath of the scheme, it also emphasised the benefits of a ground-breaking policy decision that provided vulnerable homeless people with security, safety, food and shelter during a national health crisis.

“Most participants were very positive about the accommodation and rated it more highly than other places they had recently lived,” it reads. “They particularly appreciated the kindness of the staff and having access to the room facilities, warmth, safety, and privacy.”

Although many of the participants interviewed felt positive about the scheme, vulnerable rough sleepers have not been rehoused in empty hotels during this new, national lockdown, and at a time when COVID deaths are spiking.

VICE World News reached out to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. A spokesperson said: “Our ongoing Everyone In programme has protected thousands of rough sleepers from COVID-19. By November, we had supported around 33,000 people, with nearly 10,000 in emergency accommodation and more than 23,000 in longer-term accommodation.”

“We recently announced an additional £10 million to help accommodate rough sleepers and ensure they are registered with a GP to receive the vaccine,” they continued, “and we will invest £750 million next year as part of our commitment to end rough sleeping.”

Tom Copley, deputy mayor for housing and residential development, told VICE World News: “The Mayor has led the way in working with councils and charities to help London’s rough sleepers off the streets during the first wave of this pandemic, saving lives and allowing many of those who were homeless to access health and housing services for the first time.”

“However, with freezing temperatures, a fresh spike in coronavirus cases, and a new variant of the virus, it is shameful that Ministers have so far refused to provide funding to give every rough sleeper a safe place to stay this winter,” he added. “A decade of cuts to councils and supported housing, along with a lack of long-term investment, has left those who need help the most without it.”

In order to complete the report – which only provides a snapshot of the homeless population – academics at King's College London underwent a rapid research project involved in following the process of vulnerable homeless people placed in hotels in London. The research took place between July and October, interviewing the participants about their use of technology, drug and alcohol use, mental and physical health as well as their experience in hotels and later accommodation. 

Joanne Neale, professor of addictions qualitative research at King's College London, who co-authored the report, says she was surprised at its findings, despite having researched this area for a long time. “It was still quite shocking to see where they've moved on to,” says Neale. “By and large the picture was a bit grim to me – even as somebody who's quite seasoned to this.”

“Those hotels were invaluable,” she adds, “and the kinds of accommodation that people are living in now is really not going to help given the situation that we're in – that many of them can't socially distance, that their health is deteriorating.”

Lack of resources for rough sleepers prior to the pandemic meant the support for homeless people after they were moved on from hotels was lacking: “The situation we were faced with is a lot of people who are first off homeless, and we've never had suitable accommodation for them,” Neale says . “So trying to house them when you don't have suitable accommodation is inevitably going to be a problem because it just is a result of years of underinvestment.”

Polly Neate, chief executive of Shelter, said: “The situation is extremely urgent because people could literally die without access to safe accommodation this winter. Last Friday, the government publicly asked councils to redouble their efforts to accommodate ‘all’ those currently sleeping rough. This must be followed up with strong and unambiguous guidance that ‘all’ really does mean everyone at risk of the streets.  

“If the government wants to keep people off the streets, it must make sure people are offered suitable and safe move-on accommodation, and adequate support to stay in it,” she added. “Ultimately, we won’t end homelessness without permanent homes that people can afford to stay in, which means investing in a new generation of decent social homes across the country.” 

UPDATE 14/01/2021: This article was amended to include a comment from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.