Homeless at Christmas: My night sleeping rough on the streets

We met up on a cool December evening, grateful the cold snap of the week earlier had abated somewhat and the outlook was mild for the time of year and dry.

Two of us from Cannock Chase Green Party joined half a dozen more from the Wolverhampton Homeless Outreach group for a walk across Birmingham city centre to join their colleagues from The Birmingham Homeless Outreach group.

As Christmas Day draws ever closer and the nights get colder, where can you turn if you are facing homelessness this festive season?

Despite some 2,500 people across the Black Country and South Staffordshire being registered as homeless, every council has provisions in place to try and help those in need.

In Wolverhampton, the council has the housing options team – who are available on 01902 550919 – or there is the P3 navigator service located on Broad Street.

The housing options team will arrange a meeting if they think you are at risk, while the navigator service can provide information and help at their one-stop shop.

In Dudley, the council have their homeless prevention and response team. Available on 0300 555 2345, including out of hours, the team will look for short-term emergency housing solutions and work with people to resolve their longer-term housing needs.

Councillor Gaye Partridge, cabinet member for housing, said: "Housing is fundamental to individual and community wellbeing.

"This service plays a vital role in protecting vulnerable people and offers an alternative to sleeping rough. I would urge people to make use of this vital resource."

Sandwell Council have their neighbourhood service centres, located in West Bromwich, Tipton, Oldbury, Rowley Regis and Wednesbury.

These will be able to answer any questions or queries. But when they cannot help, the council also has their housing options team available on 0121 569 6000. In emergencies their out of hours number is 0121 569 6883.

Councillor Darren Cooper, leader of the council, said: "The Housing Choice Team can prevent homelessness in many circumstances.

"However, if households approach us in a crisis, it leaves very little opportunity to prevent the homelessness occurring. Therefore, I would urge anyone who is facing a potential homeless situation to contact us as quickly as possible."

Walsall Council has their housing options officers available on 01922 653405. They will then assess your situation and begin the process that aims to produce the best option for you.

Cannock Chase has a housing options team available on 01543 462621, Stafford has a similar team available on 01785 619000 or 01785 619 170 out of hours, while Lichfield Council encourages people to call 01543 308709/308703 or 01543 308000 out of hours.

South Staffordshire's housing operations team is available on 01902 696507/696509.

We had sleeping bags in hand or in our rucksacks, much more prepared in material goods for a night out sleeping rough than those we will meet trapped as rough sleepers.

It is amazing what you discover when you open your eyes and observe, and firstly the number of homeless people on the streets of Birmingham took me by surprise. It would be wrong to say every doorway but it was at regular intervals. One of my first impressions was that these people are, in the main, without malice or bitterness.

With many of the homeless people now bedding down for the night either on their own or in groups of two or three for company and safety we would leave food and drink with them.

By 2am it was time to settle down for the night. Whilst my colleague drifted straight off to sleep like a new born babe, for me it was still too active. Throughout the night a few passers-by enquired as to what we were doing, although most either ignored us as invisible or pretended not to notice our presence.

Michael, a young man with learning difficulties who had been made homeless a couple of days earlier, stayed with us for the night and we were joined by a few other rough sleepers.

One area in which I had some trepidation was striking up conversation, being fortunate never to have a shared experience of having to sleep rough where do you start without condescension or patronisation? The reality is much more routine, these are regular people fallen on hard times, generally through an unresolved event in their personal lives or a sequence of events which deposit them with nowhere to live but the streets.

By 4am most of us were asleep, even for an hour or so. Waking to the start of the day by 6am the realities of some of our most basic needs, the use of a toilet, came into sharp focus with word of mouth directing those of us unfamiliar with street living to the nearest open conveniences.

The next morning I spoke with one man who declined to take a bed-kit because he would then be noticed as a homeless man and not allowed to enter places of warmth like New Street Station. He also expressed surprise that we were able to sleep in the underpass that night as rough sleepers are normally moved on. It may seem like an obvious or naive statement but it struck me that moving people on does not solve the problem it only shifts it away from the sight of the wider populace.

Each person I met was as fantastic and as flawed as any other person I have met in many walks of life and it could very easily be anyone of us who has to find a way of living on the street.

This is a very limited experience of a life which should not need to exist in the sixth richest nation on the planet and an experience that has changed my perception of an invisible problem.

This is a year-round problem and whilst it may be convenient to balm our conscious with good deeds at this time of year we must endeavour to direct the welfare state where it is most needed without the need for the gap in provision to share our most basic humanity to our fellow man being covered by charitable acts of a few good people.