APCOA staff lend homeless a helping hand

Civil enforcement officers will connect rough sleepers with StreetLink

Kim Challis

Kim Challis

Parking company APCOA is working with StreetLink, a national service supporting people who are rough sleeping.

StreetLink is managed by St Mungo’s in partnership with Homeless Link. It enables members of the public to alert local authorities and homelessness outreach teams about people sleeping rough in their area.

Once rough sleepers are located, they are connected with local services that can help them move off the streets.

Throughout the COVID-19 lockdown, this interaction enabled local authorities and street outreach services to help people to access emergency accommodation. During 2020, StreetLink put 13,000 people in touch with support to help them end their rough sleeping.

The programme is managed by APCOA’s local government services division, whose director, Tracey Munford, launched the partnership with StreetLink in London. When APCOA staff in London come across someone sleeping rough, they use a mobile app to provide a direct alert to StreetLink, who then connects those people with local services as swiftly as possible.

Munford is now working on extending the app service to as many as possible of the 27 local authority partners APCOA works with across the UK.
APCOA employs 1,000 staff who patrol streets and car parks across the UK as part of their jobs in parking enforcement and supporting local authorities.

Kim Challis, APCOA’s regional managing director UK & Ireland said: “Streetlink’s work has never been so important, with the on-going pandemic causing an added level of anxiety and disruption for this vulnerable group of society, and APCOA will continue to provide active assistance.

“Our team is really pleased to assist StreetLink to provide support to those in most need, especially those who are identified as facing homelessness for the first time and are in vital need of support. It’s also one of the practical ways we demonstrate our commitment to social value and sustainability.”