A SAFE venue with self-contained rooms to provide support for rough sleepers has been set up for use during cold winter weather.

Due to Covid-19, Brighton and Hove City Council’s Severe Weather Emergency Protocol (Swep) is operating differently this winter.

Emergency accommodation which was provided due to the pandemic is still available for anyone sleeping rough, but a Swep shelter will also be available for anyone unable to take up other forms of accommodation.

This shelter is opened when the temperature is predicted to feel like zero degrees Celsius or below, or when there is an amber weather warning, which is one of the lowest triggers for opening Swep services in the country.

A space is provided for all rough sleepers in the city and venues are made available to meet demand.

Swep was triggered for the first time at the beginning of last week and the shelter was open over the weekend.

The council is aware of about 30 people currently sleeping on the streets.

When Swep is triggered, St Mungo’s Street Outreach Service go out looking for people the council knows to be rough sleeping to find them warm accommodation.

Support

The city council said about 360 people are currently being accommodated who would otherwise be sleeping rough in the city, and it is working to support them all into sustainable long-term housing.

About 130 people have left emergency accommodation since the end of September, with most of them successfully rehoused in more stable accommodation .

However, new people are rough sleeping in the city every week and the overall numbers remain high, the authority said.

Councillor David Gibson, joint chairman of the housing committee, said: “Our priority is to keep everyone sleeping rough in the city safe this winter, both from Covid-19 and severe weather.

“Once we house rough sleepers under ‘everyone in’, we are prioritising helping them move on to a sustainable housing solution and aim to accommodate as many verified rough sleepers as we can sustainably by April 1 through the next steps accommodation programme.

“For those who haven’t yet taken up offers of accommodation, our self-contained Swep accommodation should provide access to shelter when the weather is bad.

“Like most things this year, running a Swep venue needs to be done very differently and I’d like to thank everyone involved for the work involved to make it available.”

Councillor Gill Williams, the opposition lead for housing, said: “The work to provide support and accommodation to keep who were sleeping rough safe this year has been incredible.

“SWEP is a different ask this year but it is still a vital service to help keep people out of the cold.”

Anyone who is worried about a rough sleeper is urged to contact the council through Streetlink at www.streetlink.org.uk or by calling 0300 500 0914 .