The cost of living crisis is a very real worry for many people in the city of bristol. But thanks to charities such as caring in bristol, 97% of people experiencing homelessness in bristol are not sleeping rough. Charities such as Caring In Bristol and Bristol Outreach Service For The Homeless have seen a massive increase in service users due to the rising cost of living
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00:00 Over the past year or so we've seen that pressure build and it's pushing people to the limit.
00:08 They can't afford certain things and it's just becoming so difficult for people just
00:14 to maintain the roof over their heads. It's a situation that people shouldn't be in and
00:19 it can't be right that people are worrying about whether they're going to be homeless
00:23 in the next month, the next week or whenever and we want to be there as a safety net to
00:29 help move people back so that it doesn't happen.
00:33 Caring in Bristol works in imaginative and creative ways with people experiencing or
00:38 at risk of homelessness, with the public and community partners to bring about lasting
00:44 change in Bristol.
00:45 At Caring in Bristol we really depend on Bristolians to help us to function. If people want to
00:52 donate to us we turn that donation into positive action that makes a real difference to people
00:59 and we also have roles for volunteers as well, particularly at Christmas.
01:04 The cost of living crisis is a very real worry for many people in the city of Bristol. But
01:09 thanks to charities such as Caring in Bristol, 97% of people experiencing homelessness in
01:14 Bristol are not sleeping rough.
01:16 I think it's a really difficult subject because often it's thought of substance abuse as the
01:23 number one reason as to why people end up on the streets and I think a lot of people
01:29 have a lot of prejudgments of that. However, if you look at the stats it's proven that
01:36 that is not the case. In fact that is probably the minority of people that are on the street
01:41 that have experienced that.
01:44 At the moment in Bristol we have between 80 and 90 people sleeping rough and so that's
01:55 actually people on the streets, sleeping in parks, shop doorways, in the woods. These
02:02 figures don't include sofa surfers, people living in squats, which are obviously much
02:10 harder to quantify and they don't include the thousands of people on the waiting list
02:17 for social housing or in emergency accommodation.
02:22 Homelessness is like not about just being homeless. With a lot of people I'm in a different
02:30 position but my position is I think I can manage my mental health and my emotions and
02:39 things that are thrown up at me and because of how I got bullied in school I've just
02:45 got my own defence and I'm alright with that and I'm comfortable with that. Other people
02:50 have had a serious breakdown and they haven't bounced back.
02:55 Only time will tell what the impact of winter will be on people experiencing or at risk
03:01 of homelessness.
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