What makes a good StreetLink alert?

5 Oct 2018 01:07 PM

Blog posted by: Gareth Thomas, Thursday, 4 October 2018.

StreetLink enables people to take positive action when they see someone sleeping rough, connecting them to local services for support. You can make alerts via the app, website or on the phone. 

When making a StreetLink alert via the website or app, there are several things you can do to make sure local services have the best possible chance of finding and offering help to the person you are concerned about.   

Location

The mobile app and website allows you to pinpoint the precise location of where you saw the person sleeping rough and enter the address. You can then also give us extra details about where they are by adding in information about what’s nearby – a notable building or a shop, for example. StreetLink asks for this because it gives outreach workers at local services the best possible chance of being able to find someone when they receive the information and go out on their next shift.

Time and activity

It’s also useful if you can provide the time you saw the person and what they are doing. People who have to sleep on the streets may not be in the same place during the day as they are at night. Outreach workers often go out during the night, so if you are able to alert us to someone when the person is bedded down, that will help the outreach team find them more easily.  

Details

Any extra information like age, gender or physical appearance can be added to the alert and, the more there is, the better equipped the outreach teams are to find the person you are concerned about.

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The StreetLink community is a growing group of dedicated supporters who use the service to alert us to people sleeping rough, have been helped by StreetLink, volunteer and work with us, and support us financially.