THE Salvation Army’s York homelessness team is supporting rough sleepers on the streets to stay safe during the pandemic by continuing their daily early morning checks on wellbeing.

The Early Intervention and Prevention Hub (EIP Hub) on Lawrence Street has remained open and staff are carrying out street walks as early as 4.30am to help spot and move people sleeping on the streets to safe accommodation.

Programme co-ordinator for the Hub Sarah Pirie said: “Early every morning our service manager Charlie Malarkey has been scouring the streets to make sure no one is sleeping outside.

“Charlie has been a superhero, going beyond what has been required to ensure people are safe. He’s even been taking longer routes to walk home after work to make sure no one has been missed out.”

For Jack, 42, this support has been life-saving. Attending a court hearing before Christmas and fully expecting to be imprisoned that day, Jack was at a loss when his case was adjourned until the new year and he was released.

With nowhere to go, he prepared to bed down outdoors for the first time in his life, in a bus shelter on Christmas Eve.

Jack said: “I was woken on Christmas morning by Charlie. If it wasn’t for him, I would’ve had no choice but to commit a crime to survive and end up in police custody.”

With Charlie’s help, Jack found emergency accommodation through Changing Lives and has engaged with key workers and the Probation Service.

The York EIP team is also working closely with local food providers to co-ordinate deliveries to people already in emergency accommodation.

Service manager, Charlie Malarkey, said: “We all worked together utilising hotels that were prepared to take our clients no matter how chaotic, as we were ‘on call’ 24/7 to help.

“We also utilised Airbnb and supported families financially to keep people in their accommodation. We also approached the council about older temporary accommodation that was due for demolition and this was opened.”

York EIP Hub has been one of the few services in the city that has been operating face to face for people from the start of the pandemic.

Drop-ins continued by appointment only with shorter time slots available, enabling staff to keep the site Covid-safe.

North Yorkshire Police have been working closely with the York team so that no one has to experience a second night out. After Charlie’s wellbeing walks he updates the police to ensure anyone found overnight is flagged so that rough-sleepers receive assistance.