Yesterday an Amber Alert for hot weather was placed across London; it will remain in place until the 12th. Due to the prolonged nature of the heatwave, the Amber Alert recognises a severe risk to health.
Just this morning I caught a snippet of a BBC London report with a reporter trying to fry an egg on the pavement.
This alert triggers decentralised guidance known as H-SWEP (Hot Weather Severe Weather Emergency Protocol). Unlike the winter SWEP, which is called centrally by the GLA for all of London, H-SWEP is activated locally.
When a council declares it, provisions can include cool (rather than warm) spaces between 11am and 5pm with no barrier to entry and/or ventilated, emergency bed spaces for vulnerable rough sleepers, both kept at temperatures of 26 or under.
During the Winter, when we can conceivably rely on temperatures dropping to around or below zero, we are pleased to offer our 30 bed Night Shelter, but it takes a lot of time, administration and preparation to be able to do so, planning regularly starting in late September for a December opening.
And, as with most of the country (buildings and infrastructure), we are ill-prepared for heatwaves through which we, as a nation, suffer knowing them to be temporary. Reminder, this is the 3rd heatwave this year…
Vulnerable people living on the streets, sofa-surfing or sleeping in their cars don’t choose when that happens and, during a heatwave, any emergency response needs to be quick and agile in its delivery.
During my research for this piece I heard a great analogy: statutory services are very big ships and KCAH is a speedboat.
With the cold weather SWEP and the night shelter running, people are referred to us from several boroughs and we are able to offer a solution on the day.
With H-SWEP in place, our contacts with local hotels and our connections with the council mean that we can often do the same, and thanks to the trusting relationships we build, even with the most vulnerable people, we are able to help people into life-saving accommodation in the same short time period.
Add to that the “In for Good” principle of any SWEP guidance (an individual housed during SWEP must be fully assessed and provided with a long-term support plan before moving out), and we are able to work with our partners and the people we support to ensure they are not simply ejected back to the streets once the protocol finishes.
Homelessness doesn’t care what the temperature is, and neither do we. Cold-snap or heatwave, our own “In for Good” principle always remains in place.
