Alarm Raised Over Rising Homelessness in Reading

Alarm has been raised as evidence of a growing tent city in Reading town centre becomes harder to ignore.

In Broad Street a makeshift structure of cardboard was put up and then taken down last week, and a tent was spotted in the former bus shelter. But the largest encampment is on the approach to the Broad Street Mall car park, with photos showing six tents tucked under the Hexagon, San Francisco Libre Walk and the car park structure. While sheltered, the tents are visible to anyone using the car park.

The rise in visible tents follows the death of Kepha Utondo, a 47-year-old man who was living in a tent in Great Knollys Street and Abattoirs Road. Mr Otundo was reported dead on January 10 after being exposed to freezing weather conditions. Flowers laid in his memory can be seen through fencing the council has installed at the former Great Knollys Street encampment, which the occupants left voluntarily before an eviction was enforced. The fencing has been described as creating a ‘secure rewilding area’.

There have also been complaints about people living in tents in Portman Road since October last year.

A Reading Borough Council spokesperson told reporters that the council’s commissioned outreach team at St Mungo’s regularly engages with the small number of individuals camping at the site to check welfare and direct them to accommodation and support. They said the council also supports people sleeping rough through its Rough Sleeping Initiatives Team, winter shelters run by charity FAITH between January and March, and seven supported accommodation projects offering more than 270 bed spaces. The council runs a SWEP (Severe Weather Emergency Protocol) that triggers emergency accommodation when temperatures hit zero degrees or below for three consecutive nights. The spokesperson added that, despite the support available and offers of accommodation, these are “not always taken up by people sleeping rough.”

The council said it is considering eviction from the site but prefers to resolve things through engagement and signposting to support services, and does not back a dedicated area for people rough sleeping in tents because of safety risks and the danger of normalising rough sleeping. The council urged members of the public to report concerns via www.thestreetlink.org.uk or visit www.reading.gov.uk/housing/homelessness for more information.

Grace Gomez, leader of The Way Ministry, who has campaigned for a night shelter in Reading for 13 years, said: “There has been growing concern about the number of tents in Reading, but what many people do not realise is that a significant number of tents are hidden from public view.”

Mrs Gomez added that many tents are tucked away in alleyways, woods and other overlooked spaces, meaning the scale of homelessness is often underestimated. She said The Way Ministry is interviewing people who are homeless to better understand their needs and is pushing for a permanent night shelter in Reading. To support that work, The Way Ministry Reading is holding a public meeting for anyone who wants to help.

The meeting is from 2pm to 3.30pm on Saturday 21 February at Fairview Community Centre, 90b Great Knollys Street.

The Way Ministry Reading ran a night shelter in December 2023 from North Street. Faith Christian Group’s “A Bed for A Night” scheme ran at the same premises from January to March 2024. The Way Ministry Reading’s night shelter was unable to reopen in May 2024 due to unforeseen circumstances.

James Aldridge, Local Democracy Reporter