The tent thing is too much. England have a generally pretty good winter nightshelter policy/severe weather emergency protocols. Either there will be local winter shelters open between November and March or bed spaces will open up when the weather drops to a certain temperature or there is poor weather like a storm. Sometimes both happen simultaneously. The NW of England are really really good at joined up working between partners. Do some people slip through the net? Sure, it happens. And the really awful reality is some people choose to stay in their tents, no matter what you offer them, no matter how bad the weather is. And it can and does lead to death in some cases, but you can’t haul someone out of a tent and lock them in a room with the heating on. Is it heartbreaking working in homelessness and rough sleeping services when it’s winter and people decline the offer of warm bed spaces? Yeah it is, but it is their choice. You offer, and you are there for them if they change their mind.
The correct thing to do is to log a rough sleeper sighting through StreetLink
https://thestreetlink.org.uk/ which will in turn send a report to the local outreach teams who will go out and find that person and offer them help. The person is at liberty to accept or reject that help and their choice has to be respected. Quite often the report will be about someone who is known, but they’ll be checked on regardless. That’s way more humane than putting a picture on the internet which ultimately could put that person at risk (rough sleepers do have to deal with their tents being set on fire or their possessions stolen from them).
