On the front line with StreetLink

Bristol24/7 are supporting Homelessness Awareness Week with a series of articles about the charities and individuals in the city who are trying to support and prevent homelessness. This year the week long theme is preventing homelessness and supporting those at risk.

It’s 6am and St Mungo’s outreach workers Syke Beddington and Lottie Maslin are heading out on the early shift.

They are two of an eight strong team in Bristol trying to make contact with new street sleepers through the StreetLink referral scheme.

Members of the public can phone in or use the StreetLink website app to report people sleeping rough.

But it is a slow process – already on the list are five possible new street sleepers and every report is thoroughly investigated.

Working from a list of referrals compiled overnight Lottie and Skye sometimes have little more than a location to go on. This morning their first stop is Queen Square. They have reports of someone sleeping rough in the centre but have little information to go on.

“The more people can tell us about the people they see sleeping rough the better,” says Lottie. “We will search all over but if we even know the colour of the sleeping bag it’s something to go on.”

Once they have made the initial contact with a person sleeping rough they go back later in the day and give them help and advice – steering them towards St Mungo’s Compass Centre in Jamaica Street, where the Bristol StreetLink scheme is coordinated. 

They can’t find anyone in the square but just minutes away on Welsh Back they see a man behind some bushes – he’s huddled under a mountain of sleeping bags and blankets. 

They have a chat and they give him a hot drink. 

“He’s already known to us,” says Skye, “we are working with him and he’s involved with other agencies as well.”

It’s been a perfect storm on the streets of Bristol. The numbers of people rough sleeping over the last 18 months “has massively grown” says Lottie.

“With the economic problems people are always close to losing their job and homes.”

“It’s exceptionally difficult for them and we are trying to give people as much time as we can. 

“It’s about making that first contact and building trust – it’s vital and you just can’t rush it.”

25-year-old Skye used to be a dental nurse before she moved into outreach work. She’s moved to Bristol from Gloucestershire and seven weeks into her new job is struck by the number of people sleeping rough in Bristol.

“That surprised me the most,” she says, “but we do have really good services and outreach in the city. 

“We work really hard to get people into housing but everything is taking longer because of the lack of housing so we really need people to engage with us on the street before they become entrenched rough sleepers using alcohol or drugs.” 

The team cover the whole of Bristol working on tip offs from StreetLink – we are now on our way to Bristol Cathedral where there are reports of two people sleeping in doorways.

They find one man and it’s his first night on the street – for a while.

He had accommodation but relapsed and was thrown out. They offer him a coffee and arrange to go back and meet him later in the day to offer him a referral. 

“It’s a difficult time for people,” says Lottie. “There are benefit changes, cuts to services – it’s hard to keep going to get through it.” 

“It’s desperately sad and it breaks my heart,” she adds.

“We don’t feel that anyone should be in this situation and we work very hard to help people.”

As we speak two more StreetLink referrals come in via the mobile app and we set off again.

“People are now on their way to work and they see people sleeping rough and report it to us,” says Skye. “Once we’ve made contact with the rough sleeper we’ll get back to the people who have referred them to us to let them know what we’ve done.”

With the help of the StreetLink app they say they find people sleeping rough that they “may have missed before”.

And the earlier they find them the more likely they are to be able to help them get off the streets.

“It is dangerous being on the streets,” says Skye. “People are beaten up, we’ve heard of people’s sleeping bags being set alight, they are spat on and abused – there is still a lot of stigma attached to being homeless.”

Back in Stokes Croft Skye spots a young woman asleep in a doorway. Though the majority of the rough sleepers the team work with are men the demographics are changing and 17 per cent of new referrals in Bristol are now women. 

The young woman is tired and does not was to talk to Skye.

“I’ll come back,” she says.

“We are not going to push and push but we want her to engage – we don’t know her, she’s female and she’s on her own – she’s very vulnerable.”

 If you are concerned about someone who is rough sleeping ANYONE can make a street referral via Streetlink.org.uk giving the following information:

o    the rough sleeper’s name (if known)

o    physical description

o    any distinguishing characteristics (e.g. colour of distinctive clothing/possessions/sleeping bag or distinctive accent)

o    specific location where the person is sleeping

o    Time they were seen

Read more: Solving homelessness is not just about providing a bed