27.03.2020
Following government guidance, all shared accommodation spaces in England and Wales were recommended to close by the weekend to prevent the spread of COVID-19. That included our Assessment Centre, which had 27 homeless people still booked in.
Due to a heroic effort from our caseworkers working from home, we managed to get that down to 23 by moving 5 into long term accommodation, but that wasn’t enough, and we needed to accommodate all by the weekend.
Through discussions with the local authority, we were able to accommodate all 23 in a hotel in Brent, and we are now working with voluntary groups to provide them with the basic necessities they need.
We would have been unable, however, to keep open this last week without the heroic efforts of our Project Workers, who came in every day for shift without fail, despite the pressures we were all under. We all owe Mohammed, Wael, Ali, Domingos, Leah, Lesroy and Mohammed a lot.
