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New website to offer 'Routes Home' for Central and Eastern European homeless
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Homelessness charity Thames Reach has teamed up with the Mayor of London to produce an online guide for services aimed at helping Central and Eastern Europeans sleeping rough on the capital’s streets.
The ‘Routes Home’ website (www.routeshome.org.uk) contains advice for those supporting individuals who want to return to family and support services in their home country, and includes a guide to consular services and information on organisations providing support across ten Central and Eastern European countries.
The website builds on the experience of Thames Reach’s London Reconnection team which has already helped over 350 vulnerable homeless Central and Eastern Europeans to return to their home countries since the service was launched in January 2009.
Commissioned by the Mayor of London, Routes Home aims to contribute to the Mayor’s commitment to end rough sleeping in London by the end of 2012.
Jeremy Swain Chief Executive of Thames Reach said: “I have witnessed citizens from Central and Eastern Europe sleeping out in London in the most appalling conditions and we know that helping people in these circumstances to return home saves lives.
“The Routes Home website, through the support of the Mayor of London, brings together in one place the learning and information we have accumulated through undertaking our reconnections work and I am certain that, through its use, even more people will be able to escape rough sleeping and return to their families and friends in safety, and with dignity.”
Mayor's Housing Adviser Richard Blakeway said: “Routes Home is a welcome addition to the fantastic work being undertaken in London to bring rough sleeping to an end.
"It demonstrates that we can help those from Central and Eastern Europe who are destitute and vulnerable on our streets to return home to support and services within their own communities.
"I would urge all those working with rough sleepers from these countries to make use of Routes Home so they can offer people the chance to return to their communities and rebuild lives away form the streets.”
