Fury at York council for ending Salvation Army funding

More than 130 people have posted comments on our website since we broke the news on Tuesday morning.

“That's just mean,” said one commenter posting under the handle Everything is Cool. “The Salvation Army are experts in this field and do a tremendous job. Labour really need to take a good look at themselves and ask, are they really the caring party?”

Acomblass added: “Wasn't it only on Saturday that (Labour council leader) Claire Douglas said that the council would need to form partnerships to deliver services?

“What says partnership working more than working with the Salvation Army to address homelessness? They have the expertise - council officers not necessarily so.

“Government grants are short term so what happens when they pull the plug? The council will be left to find the funding and there will be no service.”

Charlie Malarkey checking on a rough sleeper in York (Image: Stephen Lewis)

Tony Carson, meanwhile, wrote movingly about how Charlie Malarkey and Sarah Pirie of the Salvation Army’s early intervention team – who both seem likely to lose their jobs as a result of the decision – had probably saved his life and that of his fiancée.

“Without their assistance myself and my fiancée would most probably have died in a tent in Fulford Ings over five years ago,” Tony posted.

“We have always remained in contact with them and whenever we have needed any kind of support they have been there for us. This is the sort of wraparound care they provide, often unpaid and outside of their remit.

“They fight every day for those in great need and have doubtlessly saved many lives and certainly have improved the prospect in the long term for thousands of vulnerable individuals.”

As reported in The Press on Tuesday, the council announced late on Monday that it would not be renewing the Salvation Army’s £95,000-a year funding for the rough sleepers early intervention programme.

Under the programme, members of the charity’s early intervention team are out at 5am five days a week, checking on people sleeping rough on the city’s streets to ensure they’re OK, and to direct them towards help or a hot meal.

The charity also runs a regular drop-in service for rough sleepers.

But following Monday’s announcement, funding for the programme will cease at the end of October, following a one-month ‘transition’ period.

York Central MP Rachael Maskell has publicly called for the decision to be reversed, saying the service the Salvation Army offers for rough sleepers cannot be replaced.

But the council says it will be expanding its own rough sleepers service under a new homelessness strategy, with the help of an extra £260,000 of government funding over the next two years.

It will be recruiting more rough sleeping ‘navigators’ who - like the Salvation Army team - do early morning checks (though only for one morning a week, not five) but are also out and about at other times of day and follow rough sleepers through a programme of interventions designed to get them off the street.

The council is also to start its own drop-in service for rough sleepers, five mornings a week at the Peasholme Centre hostel on Fishergate.

And it will also use the new government funding to expand its ‘housing first’ programme, under which rough sleepers are given help to find permanent housing and then ‘wraparound’ support to ensure they are able to stay in their new homes, the authority insists.

Claire Foale, the council’s assistant director of policy and strategy, said given its current financial situation the authority could not afford to ‘duplicate’ services.

“Our first commitment is to those whose health is put at risk through sleeping rough and our first priority is to deliver a service which supports them in the best way possible.

“Alongside our navigators, our partners including North Yorkshire Police, York BID Street Rangers, Street Angels and our own officers are on York’s streets daily.

“They see and offer support to people sleeping rough, ensuring we know where they are and who they are. This is not a service we can afford to duplicate given the council’s current financial position.

“Our navigators speak with each person and work with them to establish their particular needs, and offer them accommodation and support to meet those needs. That approach is getting people off the streets and securing them a safer and healthier future."