Everyone at the Council is deeply saddened to hear of the death of this man and we express our deepest condolences to his family and friends at this difficult time. No one should die on the streets of Hackney in these circumstances. I know this situation and the tragic circumstances surrounding his death have had a significant impact on the wider community and also all those who sought to support him.

Our rough sleeping outreach team had been working intensively with him, including making an offer of accommodation earlier in the summer. Very sadly to date and despite this and other support we hadn’t been able to convince him to take up the services on offer and we were continuing to work with him to explore all options.

The team are deeply upset at his death - all of those working in providing our rough sleeper services care passionately about what they do. Supporting rough sleepers, many of whom may be dealing with broader, complex needs, are not just about providing offers of support - it can take time to build up trust to support people to engage and consent to accessing the support they need. Incidents such as this increase our resolve to continue to work to do all we can to support rough sleepers in the round.

We have asked that a review is carried out to ensure that we can be reassured about the work to support him from all agencies was carried out and that any lessons can be learnt.