In a bid to tackle the psychological toll of homelessness, Camden Council is rolling out a pioneering 'personal passport' system for people sleeping rough on its streets. The initiative is designed to prevent individuals from having to repeatedly recount traumatic personal histories when accessing essential services.
A Tool Born from Lived Experience
The council stated that a review of its homelessness services found that forcing people to re-tell their stories to multiple agencies was "re-traumatising, exhausting and confusing." With research indicating that 94% of people facing homelessness have endured at least one significant trauma, the authority sought a new approach.
Developed in collaboration with various support agencies and, crucially, people with first-hand experience of homelessness, the passports allow residents to record key personal information. This document can then be shared with services like the NHS, council outreach teams, or housing providers to streamline support and minimise distressing repetition.
Amid a Stubborn Local Crisis
The launch of this compassionate tool comes against a stark backdrop of rising need in the borough. While the Mayor of London's office recently noted a capital-wide fall in homelessness, Camden's figures have moved in the opposite direction.
The council reported a sharp 26% increase in the number of people sleeping rough in the past year. Camden consistently has the second-highest rate of rough sleepers in London, behind only Westminster, with its overall homelessness rate soaring by 48% over the past three years.
Street counts conducted by the council's outreach teams this autumn identified 117 individuals bedding down on Camden's streets.
Praise and a Painful Reality
The passport scheme, first trialled three years ago for formerly homeless people living independently, is now being recommended for use across all council services, including teams working directly with rough sleepers. It has been praised internally, with one substance misuse worker calling it "inspiring" and suggesting "everyone should have one."
At a council meeting on Wednesday, 17 December, local charity leader Foyezur Miah commended the council's efforts as temperatures dropped, sombrely recalling a homeless person being "found in a bin" the previous winter.
The scale of the challenge was underscored last week with the publication of Camden's five-year homelessness strategy. The borough's deputy leader, Councillor Patricia Callaghan, acknowledged homelessness was becoming a "painful reality for more and more people" and pledged the council was working "incredibly hard to prevent homelessness and rough sleeping."
