Street Homeless Prevention Team

We aim to minimise the need for anyone to resort to sleeping rough. In order to achieve this, we aim to:

• Meet and support individuals, in Southampton, who are street homeless or are imminently at risk of street homelessness 
• Assist people sleeping rough to exit a street lifestyle by accessing appropriate services to meet their needs 
• Support individuals in the positive choices they make that prevent them from returning to the street 
• Reconnect people, where appropriate, to their local area so that they can access the most appropriate services to meet their needs

What happens during the winter?

When the winter sets in and the weather turns colder, we provide extra emergency accommodation for rough sleepers who want shelter from the cold and those who are imminently at risk of having to sleep on the street.

This is in addition to the usual spaces we, alongside our partners, provide throughout the year. More spaces are provided over the winter period when people are more likely to accept our help and come indoors.

As well as the cold weather provision, there are extra beds within the city’s main homeless hostels during periods of severe cold weather.

Our Street Homeless Prevention Team carry out more outreach work on the streets to locate rough sleepers and encourage those found sleeping out to take up the offers of help.

What should I do if I see rough sleepers in need of help?

View ways members of the public can help.