An initiative to eradicate rough sleeping in Newcastle is coming to an end.
The unique Street Zero partnership was set up in 2018 by council bosses, police, businesses, charities, and more, with a mission to ensure nobody was sleeping on the city’s streets by 2022. While that ambitious target has not been achieved, Street Zero’s retiring founder and chairman Bob Eldridge says the scheme has “impacted literally hundreds of lives” and has brought Newcastle “almost at a point where no one needs to sleep rough”.
And the 74-year-old, who previously ran the People’s Kitchen, has big hopes that the drive to prevent homelessness on Tyneside will kick on after he stands down. However, there are warnings that the cost of living crisis hitting households across the North East risks forcing more people onto the streets.
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Mr Eldridge has revealed plans for a £1m health hub, which it is hoped will open at an unannounced location in Newcastle later this year, designed to tackle long-term problems like addiction and mental health issues that are linked to rough sleeping. In the last four years, Street Zero has brought in £3m of funding and provided accommodation for every person who was sleeping rough during the pandemic.
It has also refurbished 99 homes, with another 66 on the way, to offer permanent homes for rough sleepers. Mr Eldridge said: “We have impacted literally hundreds of lives. You can never get to zero homelessness, with the current inflation and the economic pressures on households that means you can get new people coming onto the streets.
“But we have resolved the accommodation crisis in the city. That milestone has been achieved and I think I have achieved what I set out to do.”
Most recent government statistics from autumn 2021 stated that there were nine people sleeping rough in Newcastle at that time, down from 21 in 2019.
Mr Eldridge was previously awarded an MBE for his work at the People’s Kitchen before founding Street Zero in a bid to “change the system”, with his retirement bringing an end to more than 30 years of helping the city’s homeless. He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that he was confident that the city’s mission to end rough sleeping would continue in his absence.
He said: “The council is committed to the relationship with the other 16 Street Zero partners. We have invested a huge amount of money in the hub that will be open shortly, that will be a health-led centre.
“Many vulnerable people in supported housing or in their own home have addiction issues, or mental health issues, or need jobs. The only sustainable way to fix this is to sort out the health issues in the long-term.
“We have put a whole programme together with the funding and the build plan, that is happening. It will be an integrated, specialist service with multiple practitioners working on complex issues.”
Mr Eldridge also announced an upcoming trial programme that will offer an initial 30 jobs for former rough sleepers, with a dozen companies already having pledged their support for the project. Neil Munslow, the Newcastle City Council’s service manager for active inclusion, has warned that the cost of living crisis risks putting more vulnerable people on Newcastle’s streets.
He said: “Despite our city's relative success in tackling homelessness, we are never complacent and seek to find ways to prevent people from ending up on the streets. With the impact of the cost of living crisis, it's a challenge that I expect will only get harder.”
Outgoing council leader Nick Forbes, who is due to leave city politics in May, admitted that the problem of rough sleeping is “probably impossible to stamp out entirely” given its complex and varied causes. He added: “I would like to wish Bob a very happy retirement. He has led the Street Zero partnership with real distinction and done much to reduce this social ill on our streets with the council and others. I wish him well.”
