Homelessness and street begging is an extremely complex issue. CityCo sits on the board of The Manchester Homelessness Partnership.
The MHP is a network of people experiencing homelessness, homeless charities, voluntary groups, and businesses, who are all working together to help tackle the problem.
Partners alongside CityCo include The Bishop of Manchester, Wood Street Mission, Riverside, Booth Centre, Lifeshare, Coffee4Craig, Mustard Tree, The Men’s Room, Barnabus, Manchester Action on Street Health, Back on Track, Boaz Trust, On the Out, MACC, JustLife, Reach Out to the Community and Greater Together Manchester.
How to Help as a City Centre business
A directory of Manchester Homeless Services can be found here go signpost people to.
Manchester City Council has a list of homelessness services here: manchester.gov.uk/homelessness
If you are a CityCo, City Centre BID or Accommodation BID business and need assistance, email operations@cityco.com
We also run briefings and workshops to help educate staff members around these issues. Please ensure we have relevant company details to receive invitations from events@cityco.com
The Manchester Street Engagement Hub
CityCo support the work of Manchester’s Street Engagement Hub, based at the Mustard Tree in Ancoats. Here the voluntary sector works in partnership with Manchester Council and Greater Manchester Police.
There are many services on offer from Riverside Housing, NHS, St John’s Ambulance, Department for Work and Pensions, Coffee4Craig and more organisations.
The Hub provides practical support around issues for people who beg or engage in antisocial behaviour, and may be homeless or sleep rough.
This includes:
- Provision of a safe and welcoming space
- Mental health support
- Alcohol and drug use support
- Basic wound care
- Support with applying for identification and bank accounts
- Money and debt advice
- Accommodation support
- Moving from begging to selling the Big Issue
- Referral to other organisations
For more information about the the work of the Street Engagement Hub, email operations@cityco.com
