The Latest
London City Council has endorsed the Community Encampment Response Plan, which is the remaining strategy component of the Health and Homelessness Whole of Community System Response, following the previously endorsed plan for highly supportive housing and plan for hubs offering transitional housing and health supports.
The Community Encampment Response Plan is grounded in a human rights-based approach that supports individuals in encampments, and outlines transactional outreach and transformational case-management to support an individual’s pathway out of homelessness and into housing and indoor spaces. The Community Encampment Response Plan includes safety protocols for individuals living in encampments to support wellness within encampments as well as the surrounding community.
The community-led plan was developed in consultation and collaboration with frontline sector experts and leadership, first responders, City of London staff, and with support from members of the community with lived and living experience. During community engagement opportunities hosted in May, over 200 Londoners joined in-person community engagement sessions to learn more about the plan and give feedback on its proposed safety protocols and guidelines.
What are Service Depots?
Service Depots are daily services that are set-up for roughly 90 minutes per day as an emergency response providing basic needs to people living in tents and encampments. They are a temporary crisis solution and are time limited services designed to serve those who are already living unsheltered in the area.
The services that have been established as part of this temporary solution are focused on:
- Safe and clean drinking water
- Hygiene and sanitation facilities
- Resources and support to ensure fire safety
- Waste management and garbage collection systems
- Social supports and services
- Resources to support personal safety of residents
Service Depots are an emergency response meant to decrease additional levels of desperation experienced by those living in encampments, which have been identified by frontline workers, and to help mitigate the effect on surrounding areas, by providing garbage facilities and hygiene stations.
To learn more about the Service Depots, please review the Encampment Response Update to Community and Protective Services Committee – June 13, 2023.
What is the difference between Hubs and Service Depots?
Service Depots are daily services that are set-up for roughly 90 minutes per day in specific areas as an emergency response providing basic needs to individuals. They are a temporary crisis solution to help people who are already living unsheltered.
Hubs are different and will be uniquely purpose-designed physical spaces across London that can provide a range of services under one roof. Hubs are designed to have common core functions, such as access to care, health and wellness services, 24/7 safe spaces, and transitional and crisis beds. Every interaction at a hub is an active and intentional effort to enable an individual’s next steps toward supportive housing. London’s Hubs Implementation Plan was endorsed by Council in July, 2023.