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“Rough sleeping is the Government term for people who are sleeping outdoors each night including in tents, garages, woodland, on the streets and in makeshift shelters.

As I am sure you can appreciate, people can become homeless for all sorts of reasons. West Suffolk Council’s role is to support them out of that as best we can.

We do this through a range of approaches, including working closely with private sector landlords through our West Suffolk Lettings Partnership, as well as providing temporary accommodation that not only supports local residents who have become homeless, but also helps veterans from across the UK, care leavers, and individuals and families escaping domestic abuse.

We also help people out of homelessness through our Rough Sleeper Support Service and a reminder at the end of this email on how to contact them if you see or suspect someone is rough sleeping.

This week we are sharing Neil’s story (not his real name).

He experienced significant personal challenges which led to him being homeless for the best part of 40 years. Having spent time rough sleeping in London, his sister encouraged him to move to Bury St Edmunds. He was still living in a tent when he came in contact with our support. We have given him the help that he needed for what he describes as a “second chance at life.”

We will be telling Neil’s story in five parts through anonymised videos on the council’s social media channels including Facebook and Instagram from Monday to Friday this week (just search for #neilsstory ) . A longer version of the video can also be seen on our YouTube channel.

It is a message of hope to others and of thanks to West Suffolk Council staff for the work that they do. It shows how we are continuing to encourage people who are rough sleeping in West Suffolk to take up the support and accommodation that is available to them.

As Neil says in one of the videos that we will post next week “I wouldn’t be where I am now if it wasn’t for them. They’ve basically done everything for me. When I have been low, they have been there for me. They do a marvellous job.”

How do I report someone rough sleeping to get them help?

Please do not email individual council officers about rough sleepers. The danger of doing this is the officer could be off work which means a delayed response in helping someone who could be in urgent need.

Instead, we ask you and members of the public to let us know through StreetLink at https://thestreetlink.org.uk. Support starts with an alert. It is the quickest way to get a notification to our West Suffolk’s Rough Sleeper Support Service, which, if they aren’t already aware, will go out to find and speak to the person to try to help them.

 Looking for Change

Just a brief reminder that in Bury St Edmunds, the council also supports Bury Drop In’s Looking for Change campaign which encourages people not to give money directly to people they see on the streets as sometimes it feeds addiction and can result in people losing, leaving or refusing accommodation. People can instead donate to the Drop In to help former rough sleepers rebuild their lives at www.burydropin.org/donate

Cllr Richard O’Driscoll

Cabinet Member for Housing

West Suffolk Council