Some of Britain s top LGBT+ charities have voiced concern over the government s now wavering support for rough sleepers. (Stock photograph from Elements Envato)
Some of Britain’s top LGBT+ homeless charities have urged the government not to ditch a vital emergency housing scheme amid a third national lockdown.
As another lockdown paralyses England until at least mid-February, the government is yet to confirm if it will provide rough sleepers with shelter as part of its Everyone In scheme, as it did previously.
The emergency measures, first introduced in March 2020, saw the government require local councils in England and Wales to provide accommodation in budget hotels to every person living on the streets.
Christmas Day is getting a big gay party . (Queer House Party)
Queer House Party, a London-based DJ collective, is throwing an event on Christmas Day to tackle isolation and loneliness in the LGBT+ community.
With the UK in the grips of a second wave of COVID-19, as many as 1.9 million are expected to spend Christmas alone. And even for those spending the holidays with family, isolation can still be a crippling issue.
“Christmas is the campest holiday of the year but can sometimes be the worst,” says Carla Ecola, director at LGBT+ homelessness charity The Outside Project.
“Our community can feel isolated in their own homes, many don’t have any connection to family the towns they grew up in, or are still struggling to find their queer family in big towns like London.”