‘I’ve got no choice but to sleep in a tent’

“If you get moved out of parks, what’s the choice? There are so many people becoming homeless it won’t make a difference. Just taking individuals like me out of the equation won’t solve anything.”

Those are the words of Neil Smart, 37, homeless for four months and waking from another morning sleeping in a tent in a public park.

He is speaking about three quarters of an hour after the council’s head of housing, Nick Hooper, went on the radio saying homeless people are now being evicted from parks because they sometimes cause a “nuisance” and attract anti-social behaviour.

Explaining that pitching tents in public spaces has always been illegal, he suggested instead that homeless people return to “sleeping in doorways” or “under bridges” while the council is working to make more beds available.

The harsh reality for Neil is that he is already sleeping under a bridge. But that is not enough to keep the lashing rain and biting cold away.

Bristol has seen homeless levels double in a year, putting pressure on the council’s duty to house vulnerable people. As a result, groups of tents have appeared in parks and green spaces across the city.

For Neil, a former labourer from Stockwood, it all started with a rent dispute with his landlord which ended with him beginning to sleep rough four months ago. Since then he has seen numbers on the streets spiral.

“The amount of homeless people you see when you stay in town just keeps going up. The situation is dangerous and sleeping on the street comes with its own problems.

“If you are vulnerable or part of a homeless family even, going to a park in a tent is the safest place for you at the moment.

“I can’t see a problem with it. You aren’t harming anyone, you aren’t hurting anyone. Until there’s a safe place to go, there’s nothing wrong with it.”

In December it was estimated that there were as many as 70 people sleeping rough in Bristol.

Hooper said the council had been working with charity St Mungo’s Broadway to provide an extra 20 emergency beds for homeless people in the city, and added that a further 15 were in the pipeline.

The mayor announced late last year that he is in talks to open up empty council properties in Bristol to deal with the growing crisis.

Announcing that the council is now taking action to evict campers in parks, Hooper said on BBC Radio Bristol on Friday: “The problem with living in tents is that sometimes tent dwellers start causing a nuisance, anti-social behaviour and litter, and obviously there aren’t always toilets available, and where that happens we will move them on.”

He urged charities not to provide tents and similar shelters to homeless people, adding that the council had already gone to court to get some campers removed from St James’ Park, next to the bus station.

He said the council didn’t want to take legal action, but used it as a last resort. He added: “Once we have got all the additional beds available, we believe we will be able to find people a bed and move people through the system more quickly as well.

“I can’t guarantee that everybody on the street tonight will get a bed in the next few days, but we are redoubling our efforts.”

Asked what homeless people should do without tents, he said: “The obviously need to sleep in doorways, under bridges and places where people are currently sleeping. If they are statutory homeless, that means we have a legal obligation to house them, we will find them a B&B.”

Read more: What tents in Bristol mean for homelessness