Council urges Chichester residents to ‘make your change count’ when helping the homeless

A new campaign is urging Chichester residents to support rough sleepers by donating money to local homeless charities, rather than giving money directly to people on the street.
Council outreach workers and the community warden. Photo by Sam StephensonCouncil outreach workers and the community warden. Photo by Sam Stephenson
Council outreach workers and the community warden. Photo by Sam Stephenson

Chichester District Council said giving money to charities was the most effective way to bring lasting change to lives of rough sleepers in the district.

Its Make Your Change Count campaign is encouraging residents to donate to three organisations – Four Streets, which provides nightly meals, drinks and other essentials to rough sleepers; HEART, a partnership of 14 local churches which provide hot meals to rough sleepers, and Stonepillow, which supports homeless people with accommodation, addiction recovery and more.

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Councillor Alan Sutton said: “We know that people in the district are extremely generous and want to help rough sleepers but we want to encourage people to help in the most effective way possible.

Volunteers at Four StreetsVolunteers at Four Streets
Volunteers at Four Streets

“What we have found is that while people are being very generous and giving money directly, this is actually helping to keep people on the streets, and preventing people from accessing the long-term, specialist support that they need.

“Many rough sleepers have very complicated lives, there are often substance misuse issues and very often they find it extremely difficult to trust people. This means it can take a long time to encourage someone into accepting support.

“We want to reassure people that there is a lot of support available in the district for rough sleepers, and by giving to our excellent local charities, you will be helping them to provide sustained support to clients.”

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He said many people did not realise that not everyone on the streets was homeless.

HEART setting upHEART setting up
HEART setting up

“Unfortunately, there are some people who come into the city simply to beg for money and it can be very difficult to tell the difference,” he said. “In Chichester city centre there are often as many as ten people who have come into the city just for the day in order to beg, and sometimes they travel a fair distance because they know that people here are so willing to help.”

The council’s team of rough sleeper outreach workers engage with rough sleepers on a daily basis to offer them support and make them aware of the help that is available to them. This includes working with the council’s community wardens, and local homeless charities to ensure that rough sleepers are safe.

The outreach workers spend a lot of time building up a relationship with each rough sleeper to understand their needs, why they have ended up on the streets and how they can move forward to change their current lifestyle and secure suitable accommodation.

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It can take weeks, months, or years to engage with some rough sleepers and not everyone will accept the help that is on offer, the council said. The effect of homelessness can significantly affect a person’s desire or motivation to change.

Mr Sutton said: “We are working with our local partners to ensure that accommodation is available to those that need it and that no-one has to sleep on the streets.

“Our rough sleeper outreach workers will always let people know about what is open to them, even if they don’t accept it straightaway.

“When they accept our offers of support they have access to a doctor, mental health services, deposits and suitable accommodation and our aim is always to work towards permanent accommodation for them.”

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Lisa is one of the council’s outreach workers who offers a friendly face to rough sleepers on her daily rounds. She is also there to offer extra support and welfare checks.

She has dealt with many cases this year including a man, in his 50s, originally from Romania who had been begging in Chichester for a number of years.

Lisa came into contact with him last year and gradually over the months built up a good relationship with him, to the point where he began to accept help.

She said: “I got to know him in June last year, he was always really polite and kept himself to himself. He didn’t get involved with the other rough sleepers and so he really was on his own and isolated.

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“I was really consistent, he saw me constantly and I would keep going back and checking and checking.”

Over the months, he started to open up and Lisa also enlisted the help of a church volunteer who speaks Romanian to help translate, which was ‘absolutely invaluable’. He was also supported by the district’s other homeless charities.

Lisa was able to contact his family, and arrange for him to get back home, where he now lives with his brother.

“I took him to the airport and he was really emotional,” Lisa said. “We got in contact with him when he got back home, and he is doing really well.

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“He said he was really grateful to us for the kindness we had shown and for re-connecting him with his brother. He is home, safe and happy. He even sent us a link to a YouTube video of his village which was nice to see. This is a good example of us and the charities working closely together to achieve a really good result.”

Another rough sleeper that Lisa has been able to support is a man who has been sleeping rough for many years across the south. Also in his fifties, he kept out of the way and did not want to claim benefits, and would forage for food in the bins.

Lisa said: “He didn’t want to live indoors, and because people would give him food and supplies, he stayed on the street. He also didn’t want help from the other local homeless charities.”

Eventually Lisa, working with one of the council’s community safety officers, was able to support him into a flat. Since then they have gradually introduced more support for him.

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Lisa said: “To start with he was very suspicious – he was happy living the way he was and didn’t like change.

“For someone who didn’t want to live indoors, he has adapted really well and we now have benefits in place for him and he is also accessing mental health support.

“Before he wouldn’t answer the phone, but now he answers it and has been doing really well. The next step is introducing support to him so that he is able to pay his bills and budget.

“My approach is to always be consistent and honest with each person. I never promise anything, I say that if I am able to do it, then I will.”

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For those who do not accept offers of help, the council continues to support these people by providing advice and guidance around coronavirus and signposting them to the support services that are available, in case they decide to change their minds.

To find out more about the Make Your Change Count campaign, visit www.chichester.gov.uk/makeyourchangecount

If you see someone sleeping rough, alert the council by visiting www.streetlink.org.uk