Reading Street Outreach team

We were commissioned by Reading Borough Council to manage the outreach service in 2008 - our first Southern and South West England Regions project.

Like all our services, the Reading Street Outreach team has developed a real understanding, through training and experience, of the many factors that cause people to become homeless. Staff use the Recovery approach when working with clients. They also

• work alongside other agencies, such as local authority and private sector housing, health, public safety and enforcement teams, and individuals to analyse client need, street activity and available resources to develop street strategies.
• work in partnership with other services to find and support clients who are street homeless, and refer them into the most appropriate accommodation, where they can continue to be supported around their complex issues.
• use a harm minimisation/reduction model around substance use, and work with voluntary drug agencies on joint shifts to support some individuals. Other support is around entering residential detox/rehab treatment, and counselling.

In 2010 the team expanded to include a Move on Worker, whose purpose is to assist a client's move out of hostels and into other suitable, increasingly independent accommodation.

Contact: Reading Street Outreach team, Tel: 0118 958 5002. If you are worried about a rough sleeper in Reading, email streetconcern@mungos.org

Read about the Reading team's work in the cold weather.

Find out more about our work supporting homeless women in Reading here.