HOMELESSNESS IN WINTER: THE GRIM REALITY FACING PEOPLE LIVING ON OUR STREETS, AND THE VOLUNTEERS HELPING DELIVER SUPPORT

Northern Ireland’s wettest start to the year since 1877 is making life “even harder” for those living on the street.

The north experienced the wettest January in 149 years according to the MET office, and February has shown no signs of drying up with the region already passing its seasonal benchmark by 101%.

This means the expected rainfall for the entirety of the winter months has already been surpassed.

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Team Haven, a voluntary community group helping the homeless and vulnerable, have been bracing the wind and rain every night to deliver food and clothing.

The service is a team of around 45 volunteers, with their service being provided six days a week.

One of the volunteers, Julie Kelly, has said recent storms and heavy rainfall is making life even harder for those already facing life on the streets.

She said: “It’s really hard to secure accommodation, and the recent horrible weather is only making that worse.

“A lot of people don’t have access to hostel beds or crash beds. The Housing Executive looks after the allocation of beds for rough sleepers.

“They have emergency beds, about 38 of those in around the greater Belfast area, and most nights the demand for them is just too much.

“This means the past month has been increasingly challenging.”

On top of the day-to-day pouring rain, Storm Goretti, Ingrid and Chandra offered even more miserable weather to the north so far this year, with freezing temperatures in the night-time as well.

In 2024, 58 people who were experiencing homelessness in Northern Ireland died.

From Julie’s experience of helping those living on the streets for multiple years, she stated the stagnation of improvement to the situation has become increasingly ‘frustrating’.

She continued: “There’s been a high number of deaths on the streets in the past few years. From working with the team for nearly ten years, it’s so frustrating that this is still happening.

“When these weather conditions are in place, SWEP is brought into place”.

SWEP (Severe Weather Emergency Protocol) is a programme activated by the Housing Executive to provide emergency accommodation for rough sleepers when facing life-threatening conditions.

Julie said Team Haven has been notified by SWEP a number of times since the beginning of the year.

She highlighted the growing issue of homelessness in Belfast, and pointed towards the increase of service users over the years.

“I’ve been doing this for about ten years now. At the start we would have only had about 15 people coming, but now we regularly have about 50 or 60,” Julie said.

“We see the same faces coming every night, and have done for many years now. We’ve also seen a big increase in the number of younger people using our services, whether that be because of them leaving the care system, addiction, or coming out of prison.

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“This is affecting our service as well. All of the food we bring is made by ourselves, and we can run out of supply early in the night.”

When contacted by The Irish News, Housing Executive Chief Executive, Grainia Long, said: “We would like to thank those homeless providers and voluntary organisations who work tirelessly throughout the year assisting those who find themselves homeless or rough sleeping. ​​​​​

“This is even more the case over periods of severe weather.

“Throughout this period our partners continue to provide extra bed spaces, support and outreach.

“Our own teams work round the clock to ensure all available accommodation and support is available to deal with demands for temporary accommodation.

“The implementation of this protocol (SWEP) is not a statutory duty and we proactively enact the protocol when it is necessary.

“We routinely monitor weather conditions, including all warnings issued by the Met Office, as part of our planning for the implementation of a SWEP.

“Each decision is a result of a coordinated approach within the Housing Executive, supported by a range of partners who provide additional emergency accommodation.

“These are regulated and experienced organisations and have been working extremely hard to meet a growing demand for their services.

“We immediately contact these organisations whenever a SWEP is put in place.”

Ms Long said the Housing Executive’s Out of Hours Service assists over 11,000 households in any year, highlighting the scale of the work undertaken.

“In the implementation of a SWEP the Housing Executive will engage with a range of providers to identify additional emergency provisions,” she added.

“We provide significant funding every year to ensure organisation’s working in the homeless sector have the resources they need to carry out this vital work.”

All of Team Haven’s warm food is made and supplied by their team of volunteers. If you would like to volunteer, more information is available on their Facebook page.

2026-02-15T06:15:09Z