THE town’s leading homeless charity has revealed a new programme to help tackle the issue of rough sleeping.

Threshold’s plans include providing more dedicated safe spaces for homeless sex workers, launching a LGBTQI dedicated housing project and introducing a ‘Night Watch’ service.

The homeless charity says since it started its sex worker accommodation project last year, there has been a significant and rapid reduction in street-based sex working for those housed.

And the LGBTQI housing project, which is due to open in March, is designed to offer safe housing to individuals who usually face “violence and stigmatisation” in shared housing.

Threshold’s head of psychological therapies and assertive outreach Jason Biggs said: “By increasing the bed spaces for homeless sex workers, we will attempt to effectively break the cycle of spiralling ill health and poor outcomes these vulnerable women experience while remaining homeless and undertaking the work they do to fund illicit drug habits until treatment can be obtained and to fund basic survival while rough sleeping.

“Most of them have early childhood trauma, have experienced violence and rape and were homeless in their teens.

“Without effective, fully coordinated, and robust advocacy in place, women sex workers have experienced shocking levels of inadequate and inequitable access to essential services in Swindon, including appropriately supported housing.

“ I hope there will be no need for this dedicated project within a few years or at least that we can reduce the scale of the project from the expansion phase we are in now to a much smaller concern.

“The LGBTQI dedicated housing project will provide support to homeless individuals within an informed and sensitive environment.

“It is likely we will need to acquire multiple houses to meet the local LGBTQI homeless youth need.”

On top of all this, the charity is expanding its general accommodation project so that 20 new bed spaces will be available by the end of April and more opened throughout the year.

Threshold currently carries out morning outreach services but the charity plans to start a new ‘Night Watch’ as well to help women who are at the greatest risk in the early hours of the morning.

Mr Biggs added: “When people first come inside after sleeping rough, their sleep cycles are much disrupted. Their unmet mental health needs are still waiting to be met, and their requirements for drug and alcohol recovery support are still in the long pipeline awaiting opiate substitution therapy or alcohol detox.

“It can often mean an opportunity to provide support work that cuts through barriers, builds the rapport through being present when people most want to talk, when they are feeling most lonely or desperate.

“While the need for a proactive and early morning outreach will continue, it really needs to be questioned if that is the only and the best response in the new environment where we head towards eliminating rough sleeping.

“’Night Watch’, like our outreach service for decades, will be funded directly by Threshold and through donations from our supporters.”