Ending rough sleeping is unrealistic, says support group's boss

"Ending rough sleeping is a great thing to say, but the support service and everything that goes with that has to be in place at the same time."

That is the view of John Sherriff, of Northampton-based charity Hope Centre., which helps about 50 people every day.

So with new Prime Minister Andy Burnham promising to end rough sleeping in England and allocating an additional £340m over three years to the problem, can his plan work?

What do those with first-hand experience of the issue think?

In Northampton, groups such as Hope Centre – which began life 52 years ago – are doing what they can to help at a time when figures show that the number of rough sleepers is on the rise.

According to the government's England Rough Sleeping Snapshot, in 2020 there were 13 people in West Northamptonshire sleeping on the streets. That figure rose to 15 in 2021, 25 in 2022, 36 in 2023, 47 in 2024 and 53 last year.

Pablo Tennant, 35, became homeless when he was about 14. By 17, he was living in a tent in the middle of Northampton.

"It was awful. My whole life I've suffered with anxiety and depression," he said.

Tennant ended up on drugs to help him sleep and he "spiralled downhill".

"It's just like a pit. Once you're in there it's very hard to get out."

Eventually he found the courage to ask Hope Centre for help, and he moved into a flat seven years ago.

He now has a family, works part-time at a bakery and is the lead volunteer for the charity's social supermarket.

Tennant believes rough sleeping can end, but only if the right support is available.

"There's a lot more monetary resources that need to be put into it [and] there's more human resources that need to be put into it. Until things like that happen, we won't eradicate it," he said.

Sherriff said he thought Burnham's pledge was "fantastic" but he said the idea of eradicating rough sleeping completely was unrealistic.

"Ending rough sleeping is a great thing to say, but the support service and everything that goes with that has to be in place at the same time.

"There has to be the social housing, there has to be the supportive accommodation," he said.

"If you haven't got the mental health support, the housing support, the financial support, the services that we provide on a daily basis, all you're doing is setting someone up to fail.

"There's not the funding around that there was before – the government hasn't got the money it had.

"Charities like us and the other partners that we have are all having to club together and find that money to support all your services."

He added: "I think it's unrealistic to say that we're going to end it. I think it's realistic to have said, 'Yes, we're going to do what we can to give everybody a chance,.

"There are going to be people that are going to rough sleep, and I think ending it is a long shot."

Mark Arnull, the leader of Reform UK-led West Northamptonshire Council, said it was a "bold" move by Burnham but it had been "tried before and failed".

He said that when those in temporary accommodation were included, the latest council figures showed there were 355 homeless people in the area, which was a 11% decrease from the previous figure of about 400, and West Northamptonshire was "bucking the national trend".

He added that despite help being offered, "some people elect to [sleep rough] so... there will always be an element of it".

Arnull, who praised the council's existing preventative programmes, said there needed to be an increase in "fixed-purpose buildings" to remove the reliance on hotels and B&Bs. He estimated that eradicating rough sleeping in West Northamptonshire would cost up to an initial £25m and then a further £7m a year.

"I welcome Prime Minister Burnham's announcement. I want to see it turn into a reality," he said.

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