Freezing danger – email your councillor

Tonight, people without a home may need to sleep out in the freezing cold, desperately trying to keep warm on the street. It’ll be below zero – and that might mean not waking up in the morning.

When the weather gets this cold, local councils are meant to activate an emergency plan to find people sleeping rough and get them into the warm. Some councils are moving fast to save lives. But others may be dragging their heels instead of working quickly to find the people in danger.

If your local councillors aren’t doing much, lots of emails from 38 Degrees members asking about the emergency plan could be the kick they need to start making urgent phone calls.

As the snow falls, the best councils have staff on the phone getting different departments to work together. They’re using camp beds and community centres to help people with nowhere to go stay out of the deadly cold.

Together, 38 Degrees members use people power to change things for the better. Whether it’s banding together to protect the NHS we love or standing up to the power and greed of Rupert Murdoch, we change things in the real world by signing petitions, sending e-mails and meeting up in our local communities.

If lots of us send e-mails today, we can show our councillors we want them to act fast, and let them know it doesn’t have to cost a lot of money to save lives.

Right now, we have a chance to use people power to get people off the freezing, dark streets tonight. Join other 38 Degrees members and send an email now.

PS: If you’re worried about someone you’ve noticed sleeping rough in this freezing weather, you can make sure they get help by telling Streetlink, the new national helpline and website.