Slow response: in some cases rough sleepers in Croydon spent two nights in freezing temperatures, despite an emergency procedure being called across London

CROYDON IN CRISIS: Unanswered phones, lack of proper staff briefings and information on the website that was a year out of date – council’s response to last week’s Severe Weather Emergency was a ‘shit show’ according to insiders. EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES

Homeless people sleeping rough in Croydon were left out on the streets for at least one extra night, in some cases two, after the Greater London Authority and other London boroughs last week activated the SWEP – Severe Weather Emergency Protocol – because of freezing temperatures.

Dysfunctional: Croydon is struggling to perform even its legal duties, according to staff sources

That’s according to sources within Croydon Council, who say that they witnessed emergency phone lines for voluntary and charity groups left unanswered, outdated advice published on the council website and staff left without proper briefings on what action to take.

The potentially serious consequences of the delays in getting vulnerable people off the streets are said by insiders to be the latest sign that Croydon Council is unable to perform even its legally required duties.

One source also blames Croydon’s elected Mayor, Jason Perry, for having different priorities other than the care of homeless people. Asking to remain anonymous for fear of recriminations, the source says that they were in an earlier meeting attended by Mayor Perry where “his directive was to shift vulnerable rough sleepers off the streets to try to improve the nightlife economy”.

On Friday last week – three days after the SWEP had been activated – the council’s propaganda unit posted a tweet that appeared to celebrate the removal of rough sleepers from an area outside East Croydon, “to help them on their road to stability”. No mention ws made in the council tweet of the severe weather conditions.

Our source said, “I have seen how other boroughs dealt with SWEP. With the exception of Westminster, I have never been more disgusted with a SWEP response than Croydon’s.”

Discon-tents: Croydon was quick to praise itself for removing people sleeping in tents

SWEP is supposed to be activated across London when temperatures fall to 0°C, ensuring “additional emergency accommodation is open for people sleeping rough”, according to the GLA.

Around 1,400 people were accommodated by local authorities and the GLA in last year’s SWEP.

The first SWEP of the 2024-2025 winter was activated across the capital on Tuesday, November 19. This, the GLA announced at the time, “will ensure that councils across London, alongside homelessness charities, open additional emergency accommodation for people who are sleeping rough during freezing conditions that could pose a threat to life”.

Except that that is not what happened in Croydon.

According to council sources, Croydon did not bother to let the majority of charities and voluntary services that support rough sleepers know how to access SWEP.

“Staff spent the entire day after SWEP was called trying to get Croydon to say what to do,” according to one source.

“The message on the website was a year out of date and there were no emails sent out to service contacts.”

According to the source, “Most rough sleepers had to spend an extra two nights out.”

One council staff member says that it was not until nearly 5pm on November 20 – heading into the second night of freezing temperatures – that they received a call from someone from Croydon Voluntary Action. CVA is the council-funded agency which is at the centre of co-ordinating voluntary agencies’ responses to emergency situations, including SWEP.

The call was to ask for help getting services users – rought sleepers – into the SWEP system. “They had been on hold to the council switchboard most of the day with no answers,” according to a source.

“They were directed to look at the Croydon website, which showed last year’s details.”

The source says that there had been no list of SWEP refuge centres distributed.

Even by last weekend, SWEP+5, and with Storm Bert beginning to blow in off the Atlantic, the council insider says that they had received no email from Croydon’s “rough sleeping commissioner” about SWEP.

Good practice is to contact services that work with rough sleepers to send a list of emergency shelters and other available help centres the day before SWEP is activated. “SWEP is nearly always known about before it is called, it is never a surprise,” one source said.

Perry’s priorities: Croydon’s £82,000 per year Mayor, a director of Croydon BID, was speaking at a £360-a-ticket bun-fight for Westfield today

“The local authority sources sleeping sites from a list that agreed in the autumn to host. Allocations are sent out about who is ideally going where. It is mostly Croydon Reach who organises the message distribution.

“SWEP is planned a long time in advance to just be activated and run. Most areas will email a few days before… Hosts then start preparation. It takes pre-planning to have beds, bedding, food and volunteers ready to go. It is actually a planned operation.

“But in Croydon, on November 20 and November 21, they still had last year’s details. It shows how badly they planned for it.

“The whole rough sleeper system is an absolute shit show,” they say.

“The council staff in Croydon do care and want to do their best, but they are hamstrung by Mayor Perry, whose only interest is in trying to improve the nightlife economy.”

Croydon Mayor Jason Perry is paid £82,000 per year by Croydon Council. He lives in a house close to Lloyd Park estimated to be worth around £1.2million.

Today he was attending a “Develop Croydon” conference, where tickets cost £295 plus VAT, although that does include lunch and a drinks reception. But the people forced to sleep under tents on street corners nearby had been moved along, so that’s all right.

Read more: Perry’s council threatens legal action against homeless charity
Read more: Council places homeless in closed pub that was cannabis farm
Read more: Mayor condemned for ‘cruel’ treatment of street homeless

Inside Croydon – If you want real journalism, delivering real news, from a publication that is actually based in the borough, please consider paying for it. Sign up today: click here for more details

• If you have a news story about life in or around Croydon, or want to publicise your residents’ association or business, or if you have a local event to promote, please email us with full details at inside.croydon@btinternet.com

• As featured on Google News Showcase

• We offer FREE ads to community groups when they have members who are paid subscribers to Inside Croydon

• Our comments section on every report provides all readers with an immediate “right of reply” on all our content. Our comments policy can be read by clicking here

• Inside Croydon is a member of the Independent Community News Network

• Inside Croydon works together with the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, as well as BBC London News and ITV London

• ROTTEN BOROUGH AWARDS: In January 2024, Croydon was named among the country’s rottenest boroughs for a SEVENTH successive year in the annual round-up of civic cock-ups in Private Eye magazine