“The city is not built for heat,” said Josie Ashdown, a lead manager at the homelessness charity Thames Reach. “You can feel that the concrete makes it hotter here than probably anywhere else in the country at points, and there’s hardly any tree cover.”
As London endures repeated heatwaves fuelled by the climate crisis, outreach teams are offering extra support to those most at risk – handing out water, carrying out welfare checks and directing people to cool spaces.
Why would they need to hand out water? Hasn't Mayor Khan provided them?
Scientists have estimated that the May and June heatwaves in England and Wales killed 2,700 people.
Complete bollock based on nothing. As Tim pointed out. As believable as the 'food waste' figures.
Many of the tents beneath an underpass in London were empty when the Guardian visited. Their occupants had probably left in search of water, work or somewhere cooler, Ashdown said. But for the record numbers of people like Tom who are sleeping rough, escaping the heat is rarely straightforward.
“If you’re relying on begging to earn money, you don’t have much choice to leave,” said Leggat. “You have to sit outside, often in the sun and usually in hot urban environments.”
With the welfare state providing for you, why would you need to beg?
Often people have to carry all their belongings with them, including winter clothing they cannot safely store. Anneke Ziemen, a service manager for the Thames Reach rapid response team, recalled one man who was still dressed for cold weather during the heatwaves.
“He said: ‘When winter comes, I need my clothes. I can’t have anyone steal them.’ It makes sense, but it’s also going to be 34 degrees and you are literally cooking yourself.”
And here we see a reason why some people will always be homeless, indeed why, even in they are provided with housing, it often doesn't work and they wind up on the streets again within a few weeks or months.
Ashdown said: “There have been a couple of people this year that we’ve got our eye on, in terms of whether they have the capacity to make decisions around the heat, because it makes people so much more vulnerable.”
They don't have the capacity to make decisions. About anything. And that's the core of the problem.
