‘bullied out of city accommodation’

keep seeing this come out from various councillors, but actually that’s not the case.

“On the same count we spoke to people who said that they were literally scared to go into the accommodation. And that’s not to take away anything from the volunteers that run it, but there’s one guy who said he’s been bullied every time he’s gone in.

“And he said ‘I’m just not going in again’. And he was a lovely guy, because we had someone from [homeless charity] Crisis with us, and they were talking about the services they offer, and he was definitely interested in that. But he said ‘I won’t go in’.

“I came away and I was really angry, to be honest, because I feel that the situation is being misrepresented, and if you’re a member of the public and you don’t know, you’re going to walk through town thinking ‘oh these people have all got homes to go to, why aren’t they going into them,’ which is totally wrong.”

The campaigner says that she is not fully opposed to the idea of a PSPO, and even hinted she would support it if the references to begging were taken out.

However she feels that, despite the best intentions of the council, introducing the order in its current form would lead to criminalisation of rough sleepers.

“There was a survey done by crisis of people sleeping rough who’d experienced enforcement,” she said.

“Now there’s 50 councils across the country who’ve got orders like this in place, and 94% of those councils say that they offer support.

“They did a survey, and 81% of rough sleepers who’d experienced some kind of enforcement said they had not been offered any support whatsoever.

“Given the fact that there are cuts to local government from central government, how are they going to provide this extra support?

“Already there’s not enough support for the people that are there, and the accommodation they’re being offered isn’t safe, they don’t feel secure, and there aren’t enough beds. I’ve not seen any proposal put forward to say what they’re actually going to do.”