A PANEL has heard how three times the normal number of homeless people in Middlesbrough were given shelter at the height of the coronavirus pandemic.

Rough sleepers are significantly more likely to have underlying health conditions – including respiratory problems – than the wider population, making them more vulnerable to Covid-19.

Elected members have heard how Middlesbrough Council was housing 90 people in temporary accommodation at one point during the crisis.

Erik Scollay, director of adult social care and health, told the latest overview and scrutiny board how the authority had taken a “very clear stance” to house people irrespective of whether they would in normal times.

He said: “Normally, we would have 25 or 30 individuals in temporary accommodation.

“At one point we were up about the 90 mark – that was an expensive option to take but it was absolutely the right thing to do.”

The Government gave councils £3.2m at the start of the pandemic to help house rough sleepers as part of an “everyone in” scheme.

Last week, there was a promise of more funding and 3,300 extra homes for rough sleepers in the next 12 months in a bid to fast-track thousands of units of longer-term accommodation.

But there have been questions raised about how far the funding will go – and how long it will last.

Mr Scollay told the board the council had arranged meals and had provided “cheap mobile phones” for rough sleepers during the crisis.

He added: “They didn’t have any other mechanism of contacting us and it was important for them because they were having to self-isolate.

“We also procured some individual accommodation so that people who were symptomatic and had to self-isolate could do that – they also received meal deliveries there.

“The situation has moved on somewhat.

“We’re now talking to Thirteen (social housing group) and other providers about “move-on” accommodation for those individuals because that will be the next challenge for us.

“But I think we should be proud that we took a proper ethical stance.”

Mr Scollay said there were some individuals who didn’t engage with the temporary accommodation – but added the council “did what it could” to ensure they were safe, well and off the street.

After the meeting, Susan Gill, who runs the Homeless Cafe in Gresham, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service “between six and eight” people had been moved out of accommodation for not behaving.

She said the cafe on Princes Road had received about 40 new referrals since the covid-19 crisis began.

But Ms Gill shared concerns about one visitor who had tested positive for coronavirus.

She added: “The question is – who has he been with?

“They will stick together if they are sleeping rough so we’re just waiting for the next week to see if any more go down with it.”