Jenny Jones AM has called on the Mayor once again to change his approach to tackling the rising number of people sleeping rough in the capital to intervene after a growing number of reports of “anti-homeless spikes” being fixed in the ground outside London buildings to prevent people from sleeping rough.
Spikes outside a London Tesco and an exclusive apartment block in Southwark were recently removed following protests by those such as London Green Amelia Womack, pictured
Jenny commented,
“These spikes are an inhumane and callous reaction to a growing problem of rough sleeping under Boris Johnson’s watch. Instead of trying to deter people who are in a desperate situation, these building owners should be contacting homeless services to ensure anyone sleeping rough on their land is helped.
“I shall ask the Mayor to contact the building owners about removing the spikes and linking up with his No Second Night Out initiative. He also needs to face up to the rising numbers of rough sleepers in London, and lobby for the housing and welfare safety net to be repaired. With such insecure tenancies, cuts to benefits and cuts to homeless services, more and more vulnerable people are ending up on our streets.”