A joint investigation by Big Issue and the Pavement magazine has revealed a
postcode lottery in how local councils protect rough sleepers during heatwaves.
Councils were asked whether they activated Severe Weather Emergency Protocol
(SWEP) as temperatures soared during late May. Twenty out of the 33 London
Councils said they did activate SWEP – but the support offered varied greatly from
borough to borough.
Over half of the Councils who activated SWEP said they only offered emergency
accommodation to people considered ‘most vulnerable’ and subject to strict eligibility
criteria. A third of Councils did not include special emergency accommodation in
their SWEP offer at all, instead relying on outreach teams distributing bottled water,
sunscreen and directing rough sleepers to ‘cool spaces’. One of the main issues is
that each local authority has its own protocol. But when you’re living on the streets
then a heatwave can be a matter of life and death.
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