What would you do about homelessness?

Martin Webb
Jul 28
1 min read

I’m seeing more and more tents in our parks and on the seafront. What would you do about tackling homelessness?

Polly . Hove

Martin Webb

This is an issue close to my heart as I’ve worked with Off The Fence charity since 1997 and had hundreds of interactions with homeless people during my police career. It’s a complex issue, often involving mental health and substance abuse issues. We need to remember that being homeless always means being at the lowest point in your life, and with that comes extreme vulnerability. At the heart of everything we do, we need to be compassionate, thoughtful and treat people with dignity. Each individual has their own set of circumstances that have led to rough sleeping. I’d like to see a county-wide approach to getting people back into accommodation, with simple, joined-up access to all organisations that can help. We did it during COVID, so it would be my ambition to make that happen again.