Greenwich Council (RBG) today announced an extension of the Street Pop Project aimed at tackling homelessness.

RBG launched the pilot scheme, which was designed to help rough sleepers recover from homelessness and reduce in Woolwich, back in November 2018.

In a statement published Wednesday (May 29), RBG hailed the early successes of the project and said they planned to extend it throughout the borough.

Cllr Jackie Smith, Cabinet Member for Children’s Services and Community Safety, described Street Pop Project as "a success" and revealed that it had been awarded further funding from the Ministry of Housing, Community and Local Government for another year.

"We look forward to continuing this work and expanding to Eltham, Plumstead and Greenwich town centres," Cllr Smith said.

The Council described Street Pop Project as creating a "multi-agency team between RBG staff, council drug and alcohol treatment service, the police, homelessness charity Thames Reach and other key partners."

This team engaged with people suffering from homelessness in Woolwich town centre to best meet their needs: "From requiring accommodation, getting access to physical and mental health services or activities to promote better health and wellbeing," RBG said.

So far, Street Pop has helped numerous people find the rehabilitation they need after being made homeless.

One of the people who spoke to RBG about the impact of the project was Gillian, whose real name was not used to protect her identity.

She said: "The Street Pop team helped me a great deal. I found it too difficult to come into the council and ask for help because I felt I would be judged and rejected like I had been all my life.

"Then out of nowhere the outreach worker came along. They made me feel completely at ease and they didn’t judge me. I felt I could turn to them and ask them for help with my problems and get the help I needed.

"They got me housing and helped me to get into drug treatment and rebuild my life. I will always be very grateful for their help. For the first time in 10 years, I feel happy and free."

Overall, RBG said that Street Pop had successfully referred 13 individuals for drug and alcohol treatment.

Eight people who were rough sleeping were placed into accommodation, while two people were "rescued from modern slavery," thanks to the project, RBG said.

RBG indicated that others living on the streets in Woolwich who had been approached had not responded to positively, with "assaults of our staff, verbal and physical abuse," reported.

The council said that one individual has been issued with a community protection notice.

According to 2018 statistics published by the housing charity Shelter, in a poll of UK boroughs Greenwich placed 36th for the number of homeless people (2,003) living in the borough out of a total of 282,849, meaning one in every 141 people experienced homelessness.