Bristol has seen a rise in homelessness: How do local charities support those on the streets?

National World - LocalTV

We will be looking at national homeless prevention day as tap for bristol announces they will provide funding for a new Z-House project from caring in bristol. Bristol City Centre Business Improvement District (BID) has announced that 50% of future donations raised via their initiative

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00:00 Often it's thought of substance abuse as the number one reason as to why people end up

00:07 on the street and I think a lot of people have a lot of prejudgments of that.

00:13 However, if you look at the stats, it's proven that that is not the case.

00:19 In fact, that is probably the minority of people that are on the street that have experienced that.

00:24 Due to a variety of factors such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the cost of living crisis, homelessness in Bristol has been on the rise.

00:39 To mark World Homeless Day, Bristol's City Centre Business Improvement District, known as Bristol's BID,

00:48 has announced that 50% of future donations raised via their Tap for Bristol initiative

00:55 will provide funding for a new Z-House project from Caring in Bristol.

01:01 Let's chat to Julie from Bristol Outreach Service for the Homeless to find out the factors affecting those on the streets.

01:11 Things have certainly changed. It's got much worse. Family breakdown, welfare benefits have had a huge impact.

01:21 People cannot afford to live basically. The cost of living crisis has had a huge impact on day-to-day life

01:30 and we're finding more and more people losing their homes because they cannot afford to pay their rent,

01:37 they can't afford service charges, they can't afford to live.

01:43 So we're seeing more people access charities, food banks are at crisis point.

01:49 If you are new to the hub, you probably come in, meet one of the volunteers on the front desk,

01:55 come straight upstairs, have a bite to eat, have a hot drink.

01:59 And then if you do need help or support, Julie is always here and so hands-on.

02:05 Jason has both had lived experience of the homeless services in Bristol and he has also helped to volunteer for them.

02:15 Let's chat to Jason about what Bristol's homeless charities offer.

02:20 It's quite a mixture of things. Obviously from my own perspective of being someone on the street,

02:28 some of the obviously real practical things are like people can come in and get a change of clothes,

02:34 they can get a hot drink, there's lockers here, they can leave stuff here.

02:41 And if they're tired out and they fall asleep, they're not like chucked out and they can bring their dog in.

02:47 Just picked up stuff a lot, like safeguarded and remembering people's names.

02:51 Because people come in here and it's like they come in here and because it's quite relaxed,

02:57 and sometimes it's like their living room.

02:59 Only time will tell how Bristol's homeless charities are impacted by the winter months.

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