Southend Council says the borough picked by the Government as the lead authority for rough sleeping in south Essex has been selected to spearhead a campaign to tackle single homelessness.

I am overjoyed to see the council tackle the homeless issue as someone who does a lot of voluntary work with the homeless, as a street pastor, manning one of the overnight winter shelters and as part of the Isaiah project, which helps provide for the homeless.

Homelessness is a big problem in Southend and there are a lot of issues surrounding violence towards the homeless and rough sleepers in our town.

I hope the campaign and funds are also used to highlight the issue of the hidden homeless, as there are a lot of rough sleepers who “sofa surf”.

They have no roof over their heads and they move from friend to friend so they don’t have to sleep out in the cold.

Del Thomas
Durham Road
Southend