Shaun Bailey, the controversial Conservative candidate for London mayor, has said he backs Housing First and, if elected, would lobby the Government to get as many rough sleepers off the streets as possible.
Bailey, who is up for election against Labour incumbent Sadiq Khan in May, highlighted his own experiences of homelessness and revealed he had once spent the evening on a night bus during a period of sofa surfing.
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“I would have to say it’s the most afraid I’ve ever been. And let’s be fair, I’ve had people run at me with baseball bats, I’ve had umpteen different knives and stuff pulled on me – nothing compared to the terror of not having somewhere to stay,” he told The Big Issue in a new interview.
Bailey said London needed a “homes first” policy and said he advocated the Housing First model pioneered in Finland, where people experiencing homelessness are given a home regardless of circumstance and provided with wraparound support.