BOURNEMOUTH volunteer group Every Paw Matters originally aimed to fill a gap by providing support to keep people and their pets together but during lockdown the group morphed beyond that because ‘a lot of people were struggling.’

During the pandemic, they continued to provide food and fostering services for animals but also found themselves helping people who were struggling.

A spokesperson from Every Paw Matters says: “The people involved in it are an absolute credit into the community and it’s just something that we’ve been quietly getting on with because we recognise that there is a serious gap in what support is provided from the local authorities.”

The spokesperson told the Echo that this week a man was provided with accommodation from a hostel without any furniture. The man who is unwell with a life-threatening condition, would have had to sleep on the concrete floor.

The community rallied round and EPM managed to kit the flat out for him through donations.

The spokesperson said: “It’s a failure of the system because the advice he was given was that he would have to apply to a housing grant but how long would that take to process and had he been wholly reliant on that, then it could be two or three months.

“We had another situation during lockdown with a very young couple and their dog.

“The council tried to argue that they were from outside the area and therefore weren’t prepared to put them on the housing list, this was a couple who had mental health issues.

“Thankfully through somebody that we knew we were able to secure a parked van that they were able to sleep in overnight so they had somewhere safe.

“It’s just shocking these stories aren’t unique, there’s too many of them.”

The spokesperson said they have tried to raise this with councillors in the middle of lockdown last year but they got “absolutely nowhere.”

He said: “they just don’t see it as an issue. There is a lot of money coming into the local councils to support preventing homelessness and obviously various charities have been involved in providing support to achieve that aim but I’m not sure I’m seeing that money being spent wisely.

“There’s no consideration of mental health issues and that seems to be a very general concern that we have.”

The group believes that what is needed is a coordinated approach so that each case is dealt with on merit and appropriate accommodation is provided.

Some of the services are referring people directly to them because the local support isn’t available.

The volunteers maintain that their core mission is about the pets first and foremost but that they have had to diversify because of the demand.

They currently have many requests going out for urgent help and ask that people follow Every Paw Matters on Facebook and as they are in need of foster careers for dogs, in particular.