Council takes steps to ease homeless issues

PLYMOUTH residents have been urged to show compassion and support towards rough sleepers living on the streets and in tents, as winter approaches.

- By ALISON STEPHENSON

Plymouth City Council is also encouraging people to sign up as a volunteer with the city’s soup run, which provides free food and drinks to the homeless and vulnerable 365-days-a-year in the city.

At a meeting of the council's housing and community services scrutiny panel last week, Cllr Ian Poyser (Green, Plympton Chaddlewood) asked members of the council’s housing team what the people of Plymouth could do to help the homeless, as figures were revealed about the numbers of people living on the streets and in temporary accommodation such as B&Bs.

The latest statistics from August showed that there were 34 long-term rough sleepers in the city. Over the last few years, there have been a number of tents pitched in Central Park and other locations by homeless people.