Rough sleepers get a helping hand from council

“I used to drive out to a village car park – a church or village hall where I wouldn’t be disturbed and then sleep in the car. It was very cold.”

Chris had a mortgage, had a house, in West Suffolk, but still he was homeless and rough sleeping.

He is just one of the many people who West Suffolk Council has helped out of homelessness including people who have been sleeping outdoors or in cars – termed rough sleepers by the government.

Next week the council will discuss a new Housing, Homelessness Reduction and Rough Sleeping Strategy.

Part of that looks at what the council can do so that more people can better afford a place to live with the cost of housing one of the factors behind homelessness.

The strategy also builds on early intervention work as well as greater work with partners including private landlords to accommodate people who have lost their home.

Chris became homeless in the autumn of 2021 after a friend of a friend moved into his home.

The pair clashed, the other man refused to leave, and Chris took to sleeping in a car.

“I couldn’t get back in my house, the bloke wouldn’t leave. It was only for a few weeks, but it was getting very cold and then someone put me in contact with Citizen’s Advice who contacted the council’s Rough Sleeper Service,” Chris said. 

The council got Chris into temporary accommodation and helped him get support for his health.

“I was pleased once I was in somewhere, out of the cold, in the warm,” said Chris. “The rough sleeper service was brilliant and looked after me until I got my house back.”

The council supported Chris as he applied through the courts to gain repossession of his home. He eventually moved back into his house in May 2023.

The Rough Sleeper Service also supported Chris as he negotiated with the bank to get his mortgage back on track.

When the council’s Rough Sleeper Service first formed in 2018 there were 36 people rough sleeping in West Suffolk.

Through a mixture of support and accommodation the council has reduced rough sleeping in the district. On October 31 there were five people rough sleeping in West Suffolk.

Many of the rough sleepers currently on the streets have previously been accommodated or offered accommodation which they have turned down.

The figure represents a snapshot and can change daily as people accept or lose their accommodation. There were four people rough sleeping on the same night in 2023.

Richard O’Driscoll, cabinet member for Housing at West Suffolk Council, said: “We are continuing to do all that we can to encourage those who are rough sleeping in West Suffolk to take up the support available to them.

“Many of the people on the streets have complex needs such as needing support with their mental health or to help them overcome addiction to drink or drugs.

“Our new strategy, which I will be asking council to adopt next week, includes greater intervention work with partners in health and housing to further prevent homelessness and rough sleeping wherever we can. 

“We will also continue in our daily efforts to encourage people who are rough sleeping to accept the support and accommodation available to them.”

If you know or suspect someone is sleeping rough, the quickest way to report it to the council’s rough sleeper service is using Streetlink www.streetlink.org.uk  – the service then gets an alert, and they will go and speak to the person (if they aren’t already) to try to get them the help that they need.

You can also donate to the Looking for Change campaign run by Bury Drop In which challenges people to think about the reasons why they give – and instead give to the charity.

The money is then used to help people who have previously been rough sleeping, who have subsequently stayed in temporary accommodation while they got support for any mental health or addiction issues that they may have, and who are ready to move into more settled and permanent accommodation.

In Bury St Edmunds, people can support the campaign through a text by typing BSE followed by the amount (so for £5 type BSE5) and send to 70085.

You can also donate online at www.burydropin.org/donate/

See more on Chris’ story at https://youtu.be/LAsxqA79XO4