The practice of 'washing down' (also known as 'hot washing' and 'wetting down') –whereby homeless people sleeping in the streets are woken in the night by council workers and their dry sleeping spaces hosed down to force them to move on elsewhere – is part of the City of London homelessness strategy. It has been criticised by homelessness charities as inhumane and counterproductive. The Metropolitan Police, who work with the council to enforce this strategy, claim that the operation is responding to concerns of local residents and businesses about homeless people sleeping on the streets of their community. We believe that neither residents nor businesses were calling for a strategy that harassed and endangered our homeless, nor one which disregarded principles of human dignity and rights. Please sign below and call for an end to this barbaric practice. If you live or work in the City of London, please check the box to make this clear. Your details will not be used to contact you without your permission, and email addresses are not displayed online. The petition will be sent to the homelessness strategy partners, the Mayor of London, and London MPs.

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