{"id":111059,"date":"2026-02-11T12:55:06","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T12:55:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/111059\/"},"modified":"2026-02-11T12:55:06","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T12:55:06","slug":"concern-as-more-tents-pitched-in-reading-town-centre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/111059\/","title":{"rendered":"Concern as more tents pitched in Reading town centre"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n  On Tuesday, rough sleepers were spotted at a bus stop near Broad Street, where a tent had been erected, while a man was seen sleeping under a duvet near King Street, with no shelter.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  It comes days after alarm was raised about a &#8216;tent city&#8217; in Reading after a tent encampment was found on approach to the car park for Broad Street Mall.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  It featured a coat stand, dining chairs and containers for rough sleepers to store their belongings.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Six tents were placed in the encampment, which is sheltered by the Hexagon, San Francisco Libre Walk and the car park structure.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  A makeshift cardboard box shelter was also constructed at the end of January, which was opposite Marks &amp; Spencer in Broad Street and taken down on the same day.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  There have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.readingchronicle.co.uk\/news\/25514818.despair-reading-drug-use-defecation-tent\/?ref=ed_direct\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">also been complaints about people living in tents<\/a> in Portman Road, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.readingchronicle.co.uk\/news\/25514818.despair-reading-drug-use-defecation-tent\/?ref=ed_direct\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">West Reading<\/a>, from October last year.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Grace Gomez, the leader of The Way Ministry has called for a permanent night shelter, following the death of Kepha Utondo, a 47-year-old man who was living in a tent in Great Knollys Street and Abattoirs Road.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Mr Otundo <a href=\"https:\/\/www.readingchronicle.co.uk\/news\/25801401.homeless-reading-mans-death-prompts-sadness-anger\/?ref=ed_direct\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">was reported dead on January 10 after being exposed to freezing weather conditions<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Reading Borough Council confirmed their commissioned outreach team at St Mungo\u2019s regularly engages with the small number of individuals camping down at this site, both to check on their welfare and to direct them to the accommodation and support.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  However Ms Gomez told the Chronicle the scale of the homelessness problem is often &#8216;over-estimated&#8217;.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Speaking last week, she said: &#8220;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.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  \u201cWhile some are visible, many more are tucked away in alleyways, wooded areas, and other overlooked spaces.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  \u201cWe are pushing for a permanent night shelter in Reading\u2014a safe, consistent place where people can find warmth, dignity, and support, not just in emergencies but all year round.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  \u201cTo move this forward, The Way Ministry Reading is holding a public meeting for anyone who wants to be part of the solution.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  \u201cThis meeting is open to community members, churches, organisations, funders, and individuals who care about addressing homelessness in a meaningful and lasting way.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  The meeting will take place from 2pm to 3.30pm on Saturday, February 21 at the Fairview Community Centre at 90b Great Knollys Street.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On Tuesday, rough sleepers were spotted at a bus stop near Broad Street, where a tent had been&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":111060,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[128,130,129],"class_list":{"0":"post-111059","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-reading","8":"tag-reading-city","9":"tag-reading-city-headlines","10":"tag-reading-city-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111059","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111059"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111059\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/111060"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111059"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111059"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111059"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}