Ben’s Centre Archive - Outreach Update - 2016
Below is an update on the state of rough sleeping in Sheffield’s City Centre from 2016/17, written by a member of outreach staff at Ben’s Centre. 6 years later, Sheffield’s rough sleepers still face many of the same issues.
Outreach Update 31/10/16-13/01/17 (10weeks 175hours)
Since the end of October 2016 I have collected data as part of my outreach work, the data collected has covered areas such as:
Why people are begging when they are aware of services and support.
Who is giving them the money and with what intention.
What they spend the money on, and who is deciding what that money goes on.
Why are people begging and not engaging with services? From the 130 conversations I have had with people begging the awareness of services is very high, Only one individual had not heard of the services in sheffield, she had sat down to beg that day having come from Chesterfield, a combination of interaction with the City Centre Ambassadors and myself meant we were able to get her to call her Dad and he came to pick her up as she had run away from home, a really excellent result but sadly not the norm.
People are not wanting to access services as they have often failed many times before and don't feel like anything would be different this time, they have all spoken about after care support and that they need to have support for issues that present once they are in treatment. The second most common theme for not engaging was arrears and debts, making it impossible to start again. Almost every person I have spoken to has expressed a lack of budgeting skills, that coupled with there compulsion to 'binge' makes paying rent and clearing arrears very challenging to the point where they give up at the first hurdle.
Many of the people I have spoken to have discussed fears of being attacked or victimised when attending services or when housed in certain areas of the city, I does follow that if you owe a drug dealer money they are likely to look for you at a drug service or housing project and it is true that this does happen. It is also my belief that the fear of this sort of thing happening is made worse by the apparent lack of reporting of such incidents to the police, the streets do have there own rules and talking to services like to police and the ambassadors is frowned upon to the point that for me as a worker representing a charity it took weeks to build up trust and even then I am given false or misleading information from some of the most hardened beggars as they attempt to keep themselves safe.
I have been watched and followed during this project on a number of occasions by both beggars and low level (teenage) drug dealers, so the intimidation and threats are very real and although I don't feel I've been in any real danger, due in part to my physical size and experience, I do know that the 'punishment' for any kind of reporting is harsh and often violent.
Who is giving the money and why?The ease that begging offers to be able to collect large sums of money quickly makes it very attractive as a 'top up' for benefit payments, the generosity of the public is been taken advantage of at an alarming rate, it has been made clear to me by a number of people begging that my presence slows the cash flow, but even when I have been talking to people I have seen large denomination notes, cans of beer and food given, albeit with best of intentions.
I have spoken to members of the public that have given money, they say that they feel it is better to give to the person as they don't see the services doing anything. There does seem to be a universal lack of trust in the support services, my feeling having spoken to people is that they are been told storeys by the beggars that are suggesting that there is no help and that they are not able to access services and have been left to fend for themselves. Hearing these stories along with other forms of misinformation such as 'Tent City' it is very difficult to get the facts for people, I have attempted to tackle this by supporting volunteers in public buildings like the Library and Museums, with the view to engaging people in a discussion about the topic to raise awareness of the facts and aftempt to breakdown the 'Them and Us' rhetoric that makes it a discussion about people outside our community and therefore easier to ignore.
What is the money spent on? from the 130 recorded interactions, the most common answer is Drugs (heroin) at 97, followed by housing (16) and food (8). 1 individual said that he needed the money to support his gambling addiction. 8 individuals refused to say what the money was for. Since the initial conversations with many of these individuals the issue of gambling has become more of a topic they are willing to discuss, 3 people I have spoken to have described the "need" to get rid of any money they have on them as it makes them feel vulnerable and the best way to do this is through gambling, all 3 explained that when they get a large amount of money, usually benefit payments, they feel compelled to have a binge even though they know they have rent arrears and such like. I have been asked on a number of occasions to hold money for people, there was no facility set up for this on this project, but it might be worth looking at some form of support for people in that way. The other issue that does need further understanding is forced begging, it is acknowledged amongst the group but I wasn't able to find anyone prepared to talk about it.
The data has been collected on a spreadsheet and has a 'diary' of notes that goes along side, the aim of the spreadsheet is to be visible to all outreach staff and to aid in building a better picture of activity and support that is been offered.
The link to the spreadsheet is;
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Hq3ggq6TyRdmrKMc6tDwDISCZmT8wnSygyPntiMRq8c/edit?
usp=sharing
I will also include the diaries, please note they are to allow me to review the project at the end and as such are written in note form.
The data has currently identified 190 individuals begging in Sheffield, that is in total over the project and is not all at once or indeed everyday. What is also true is that over the weekends the picture changes and it is a number of people that travel in to the city to target people on a night out. I do not have data myself on this, but through testimony of the beggars I am working with and my own experience of living in the city centre you do see unfamiliar faces on the weekend.
The feeling towards the services from people begging is positive overall, however that does not translate into engagement due to the lack of faith in themselves, the inability to be entirely honest about their circumstance, through a combination of lack of insight and the attempt to keep themselves safe. It has been mentioned on a number of occasions that the offer of temporary housing is often refused as the individual does not want to have to acclimatise back to the streets after a couple of days, this is not only due to the cold but more to do with regaining trust within the group and not wanting to give up a good begging pitch.
During the time between October 2016 to now I have witnessed begging in all areas of the city centre;
West Street
Division Street
The underpass at Ecclesall Road
The underpass at London Road
The Train Station
The Coach Station
The underpass next to The 02 Academy
Howard Street
Pond Street
Fitzallan Square
Commercial Street
Arundal Gate
High Street
Norfolk Row
Surrey Street
Fargate
The Moor
Church Street
Carver Street
From the testimony of the Beggars I have spoken to, the best places to beg are;
The train station
Howard Street
Church Street
Fargate
The underpass at the 02 Academy
The reasons given were, footfall of new people, shelter, and ability to see other threats.
Other areas like Fargate were popular due to high footfall, but the constant disruption from Ambasadors made it lower down the list.
I was surprised not to here West Street, but after further investigation the aggression and fear of being robbed makes it less popular for beggars.
Of the people we know about begging in the city, 62% are male with 32% female with ages ranging from 14 to 64 years old.
A breakdown of birth years looks like this;
1953-1962 =7%
1963-1972=19%
1973-1982=34%
1983-1992=28%
1993-2002=8%
Date of birth not given =4%
Since the beginning of the project we have achieved...
Live updates up and running
Turned 66 rejections in to 5 engagements
25 connections with other services
14 Business's now aware of the work that is been done and wanting to support
Tannoy announcements at Sheffield Mainline Station & EMT showing interest in supporting role long term
Spent time with 124 people that otherwise feel invisible
Help us Help ambassadors engaging with community
Have contributions to database from 4 organisations and counting
We have managed to return 1 young lady to her family
•Intervention was able to stop a relapse