24 hours as a rough sleeper on the city's streets

Humans of Chelmsford

On this episode of Humans of Chelmsford we meet Sarah Payne and Chris Starbrook who are both currently homeless and sleeping rough in the city.
For 24 hours I joined them and lived life as a fellow rough sleeper for 24 hours to gauge an insight into what life is actually like on the street.
In doing so I found out all about the lives and backgrounds of Sarah and Chris who have both been without a home for a number of years now.
Over my day spent with them I also learn very quickly just what life is like in a world without any order or any rules – it gets crazy.
With the death of Rob O’Connor in February following a night of freezing cold temperatures, and Cool to be Kind Chelmsford’s estimation in July that there are 48 rough sleepers in the city centre alone, the city has been thrust into the homeless spotlight like never before.
At the start of 2018, official government statistics showed that Essex as a whole had seen a staggering increase of 276 per cent in people sleeping out on the streets since records began in 2010.
But behind the statistics, and the numbers, what is sleeping rough actually like?
That’s why I took the step of living life out on the streets for 24 hours because it is often said you can only fully know by experiencing it.
Chelmsford City Council’s response
Councillor Paul Hutchinson, Cabinet Member for Housing, said, “Homelessness has been a rising problem nationally for some years now and, like all local housing authorities, Chelmsford has both a duty and a strong sense of responsibility to provide advice and to help people to avoid becoming homeless wherever possible.
“Most of our homelessness work is not visible: for example, working with people whose landlords have given them notice to leave or who are ‘sofa surfing’, and our Housing team prevent around 300 people becoming homeless each year. However, we also work alongside other agencies to try to help the small number of people who are sleeping rough in the city.
“Rough sleeping can only be ended if organisations like the Council, police, local charities and others work together and have the co-operation of the person involved.
“In some cases, there are very complex needs which are stopping someone from taking up or keeping accommodation.
“Unless the right support and services are in place and are engaged with, people are often unable or unwilling to take on or cope with the responsibilities which come with maintaining accommodation.
“We have commissioned CHESS Homeless, a local charity, to run outreach services in the Chelmsford area. They use their vast experience with homelessness to go out onto the streets, respond to referrals from members of the public through Streetlink, and repeatedly offer each rough sleeper help to get off the street.
“CHESS also offers an emergency night shelter, clothing and hygiene facilities, which help with people’s immediate needs, but for those willing to engage, they also provide consistent, patient help over a period of time.
“This includes a change programme, counselling, one-to-one mentoring, support and treatment for any substance issues, and help getting and keeping a home. We also fund CHESS’ Winter Project, providing extra emergency accommodation in cold weather.
“We share information with local charities, police and other organisations to develop an understanding of each person’s background and needs so we can help them as an individual – our experience tells us applying a blanket approach does not work as homelessness is complex and caused by many different factors for different people.
“This can take time, but has helped many people. As an example, one person who was living on the street recently...

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