The minister for rough sleeping and housing visited Watford to learn how organisations are working to tackle rough sleeping in the town.

Eddie Hughes was shown around New Hope’s Haven on Monday, August 22.

The centre focusses on providing aid to people facing homelessness by offering hot food, showers, and advice.

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Mr Hughes said: “The work they do means they can send teams out later at night and earlier in the morning to find homeless people and engage with them on the street.

Watford Observer: Eddie Hughes and Watford MP Dean Russell visited the shelters together. Picture: Department for Levelling up, Housing & CommunitiesEddie Hughes and Watford MP Dean Russell visited the shelters together. Picture: Department for Levelling up, Housing & Communities

“The outreach work that they do, as well as the accommodation that they provide at New Hope, is the vital first step in the chain to get people stabilised.

“It is natural that they would then move onto somewhere like the YMCA.”

The visit ended at One YMCA, which received £2.2 million in government investment last year to reconfigure the facility and provide an additional 34 self-contained studios for local individuals who were previously homeless or sleeping rough.  

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