The Mayor of London Boris Johnson has opened an emergency severe weather shelter in order to help combat the plummeting temperatures across the capital.

In partnership with St Mungo's, the shelter opened in Harrow on Thursday (January 14) to help vulnerable rough sleepers off the streets and will stay open during the freezing weather to help anyone sleeping rough across London in what can be life-threatening temperatures.

As well as a warm bed to stay in, people will be offered a hot shower, clean clothes, and hot food, while staff work to link them into services to find them more permanent accommodation to stop them returning to the streets.

This pan-London severe weather provision forms part of the mayor’s wider work to tackle rough sleeping in the capital.

Boris said: “With the arrival of freezing temperatures in the capital, it’s more important than ever that we ensure the most vulnerable people in the city are not sleeping rough.

“No one should ever have to call the streets their home and by prioritising my funding for key services and working with partners such as St Mungo’s and Thames Reach we are doing everything possible to turn around the lives of some of our most entrenched rough sleepers and support them into long term accommodation, health care, skills and employment.”

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'People's lives are even more at risk'

The Severe Weather Emergency shelter, run by St Mungo’s, will be in place throughout the winter whenever three consecutive nights of freezing temperatures are predicted and was first opened for the freezing temperatures last weekend.

The mayor’s London Street Rescue outreach team, run by Thames Reach, have also been helping to find and help London’s homeless people survive the freezing cold weather over the weekend.

Longer term, St Mungo’s said that they will continue to work on the Mayor’s homeless database called CHAIN, that monitors numbers of people sleeping rough.

Howard Sinclair, St Mungo’s chief executive, said: "Rough sleeping is harmful and dangerous but when temperatures drop, people's lives are even more at risk.

“Health problems connected to exposure to the cold can exacerbate people's already poor physical and mental health.

“We will be working day and night while it's freezing to help as many people into shelter as soon as possible.

“I would urge people concerned about someone rough sleeping to contact the national referral service StreetLink on 0300 500 0914 to help connect them with their local service.”