Street Teams
Street Teams
Our Street Teams focus on building relationships with people who have no alternative but to spend the night rough sleeping. We engage with people, build trust and help people get the support they need.
We support people who experience rough sleeping every day
People end up on the streets of Scotland’s two main cities for multiple reasons
Quite simply – they often have nowhere else to go. Working in shifts, our Street Team is on the streets early to late every day across both Glasgow and Edinburgh.
The team walk or cycle around places where people are known to sleep rough or beg. We also respond to calls from the public and other organisation.
The number of people sleeping rough in Glasgow and Edinburgh is reviewed daily and reported to the relevant local authorities each week. We want everyone to have a space place to live.
Building trust
Trust is a huge element of what we do. We focus on meeting people where they're at. We learn about what they want and then help them make this happen. This could be supporting people into accommodation, helping them get things they need or even going with them to appointments.
Our Street Teams are on the street 7 days a week in Edinburgh and Glasgow. We look for and engage with anyone who appears to be at risk of homelessness and rough sleeping.
Our Street Teams are able to follow up information they get from the public (through our helpline or face to face), as well as from partners and other networks. This could be about concerns for people sleeping rough or begging in Edinburgh and Glasgow.
A day with the Street Team
Gavin Money, Regional Manager for Scotland & Northern Ireland for Biffa, recently spent a day with our Glasgow Street Team
“I was given the opportunity to spend time with the Glasgow Street Team so I could understand their role in the city and learn more about the challenges and situations they deal with and to provide me with some perspective. I was taken out by Paul and Alex – two incredibly passionate, empathetic, and warm individuals around the hub of the city.”
“We met a lad that was well known to both Paul and Alex and there was a warmth and camaraderie in those initial exchanges. It was at this point that Paul and Alex spoke about the importance of trust in their role – we often speak of this in a business environment in the creation and development of a team, but this quality was incredibly profound throughout my entire time with the guys.”
“It was an incredibly powerful and humbling experience with the Glasgow Street Team. Paul and Alex are a credit to Simon Community Scotland. Simon Community Scotland are people like Paul and Alex. It was a genuine pleasure to be in their company and to learn the true value of trust.”
How to access this service
If you need help or are concerned about someone, please call our helplines (see below).
