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News in Brief 152: October - November 2024

October 01 2024
News in Brief by the Pavement team


Housing first

The Greater Manchester mayor, Andy Burnham, says he is committed to adopting “a housing first philosophy like Finland,” in his effort to end rough sleeping. Burnham made the announcement at an event marking the success of Manchester’s own housing first pilot scheme. The scheme has supported 430 people with experience of homelessness into housing. Lauding the scheme’s success, Burnham continued: “It actually saves public money to do this [housing first],” he said. “It’s not as if we’re just asking for something, and it’s another pressure. The bigger you do housing first, the more you’ll save.”


Storm brewing

A troubling new law came into effect in Florida, USA, on 1 October. The bill, signed by governor Ron DeSantis in March this year, criminalises sleeping in public spaces. The mayor of Fort Lauderdale, Dean Trantalis, has rubbished the law, saying it will provoke a “tsunami of lawsuits” while doing nothing to solve homelessness in the state. Trantalis went further, calling the bill a “draconian mandate” which gives cities in the state “an onerous burden.” From 2022 to 2023, homelessness in Florida increased by 18.5%. Trantalis’s lawsuit comment references a clause in the bill allowing legal action to be taken against any municipality that fails to reduce rough sleeping.



Café Art’s MyLondon calendar is available for pre-sale, after a Crowdfunder was launched in August. The MyLondon project sees 100 Fujifilm QuickSnap single-use film cameras given to people experiencing homelessness in the capital. Roughly more than 2,100 photos are taken in a seven-day period. A selection of 25 photos is picked from these 2,100, with 13 chosen for the 2025 calendar.

  • Learn more about Café Art and the MyLondon project on its website: www.cafeart.org.uk/mylondon


Tourist tax

A new tourist tax in Edinburgh will pay for the building of council homes, the city council claims. Councillors estimate the tax could raise up to £50m a year, which Cammy Day, the council leader, plans to use to ease the city’s housing crisis. Day has earmarked £5m of the annual income to be spent on borrowing £70m to build new council housing and other affordable homes. Overall, Day wants to spend 50% of the new tax revenues on housing programmes and improving public spaces.


Emergency again

Following the declaration of a national housing emergency by the Scottish government in May, councillors in Aberdeen have declared a housing emergency in the city. The council plans to write to the Scottish and UK governments to demand immediate support. The announcement arrived in September, following a meeting of Aberdeen’s housing committee. The action has been backed by homelessness charities and organisations, including Shelter. Gordon MacRae, assistant director of Shelter Scotland, told the BBC a “whole city view” was required to tackle the housing crisis.



From 7 August to 20 September 2024, the Saatchi Gallery in west London held an exhibition featuring artwork by artists with experience of homelessness. Homelessness: Reframed displayed works by artists from the UK and abroad. Promotional material for the show said the “exhibition will bring to life the breadth and complexities of homelessness across the country and give people an opportunity to engage with, and better understand, the stories of those with experience of homelessness.”


Gimme shelter

Campaigners have held a protest in Glasgow city centre against the closure of a homeless shelter. Homeless Project Scotland, based at 67 Glassford Street has been ordered to shut down by Glasgow City Council, though it has up until 18 October this year to appeal the decision. The shelter takes in around 35 people a night. The council claims it was forced to serve notice of closure after an unauthorised change of use of the building, as well as complaints from residents and businesses. The premises was apparently changed from an office to an overnight shelter without the requisite planning permission, according to the BBC.


Drawing a zipline

A 90-year-old Glaswegian pensioner ziplined over the Clyde to help homeless people in the city. Gladys Speedie was raising money for Glasgow City Mission, a Christian charitable organisation. Gladys told the Glasgow Times: “Having lived a long life I don't recall the issue of homelessness like I see it now. I only hope I can raise awareness of the need to give help now. Every little would help but more would be better!” Now, while the Pavement salutes her efforts, it says something about the state of funding for homelessness services and charities that a nonagenarian felt inclined to zipline over the Clyde…



The Museum of Homelessness (MoH) was founded, created and run by people with lived experience of being homeless. Each year it publishes information on people who died experiencing homelessness, as part of the Dying Homeless project. They also hold a vigil for those who passed, usually around the start of spring. However, this year the vigil is being held on 17 October, outside Downing Street, London, to coincide with the release of the latest figures from the Dying Homeless project.


Lawmakers/breakers

Edinburgh Council is breaking the law by placing homeless people in unlicensed houses in multiple occupation across the city. The number of households in temporary accommodation across the city has risen to more than 5,000 from 3,570 at the start of lockdown in 2020, with around £50m a year spent on temporary accommodation, reports the Edinburgh Evening News. The council’s own regulations require houses in multiple occupation to be licensed to ensure the safety of residents, a requirement the council has ignored when sourcing accommodation for people experiencing homelessness.



StreetsFest, the annual day festival run by StreetsKitchen, took place on 12 September. The festival, run in partnership with a number of organisations and with the support of Haringey Council and Islington Council, was held in Finsbury Park, London, close to the Museum of Homelessness by Manor House station. The festival featured a variety of services for people experiencing homelessness, including health services, a hairdresser, showers, food and live music and entertainment.

  • StreetsKitchen runs several food outreach services across London. For more information, including where and when, see the List.
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December 2024 – January 2025 : Solidarity

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