'Rough sleeping hasn't got any worse' -councillor

Becky Davidson (left) and Chelsea Eddolls (centre) have been helping people sleeping rough in Swindon

A team tasked with tackling rough sleeping in a town insists overall numbers of people sleeping on the streets have not gone up.

Chelsea Eddolls and Becky Davison, who work with rough sleepers in Swindon as part of the council's support team, said their last count showed around eight people sleeping rough on 9 June.

According to the council, this was in line with figures from 2024, with rough sleepers counted a few times throughout the year.

Swindon Borough councillor Janine Howarth, who is responsible for housing, said: "It's not got any worse - what you see some of the time is people who are actually begging on the street, they're not actually rough sleepers who need our help."

Janine Howarth, (left) with Chelsea Eddolls and and Becky Davidson, says they are not seeing more rough sleepers in the town

Ms Howarth said this could lead to the public perception that numbers had increased.

"We do still work with these people but they may already have a house or a place to stay," she said.

"They will come out because of the situation they are in and they will beg for whatever reason.

"What we want people to do, instead of giving people on the street money, is to actually give it to places like The Haven or Booth House that actually deal with them."

'Build trust'

It comes after government figures found rough sleeping in England went up by a fifth last year compared to 2023.

Asked whether they saw the same number of rough sleepers each time they went out, Ms Eddolls and Ms Davison said "it varies" - often depending on things like the weather.

They also said the rough sleepers they were trying to help were often dealing with "complex trauma".

Ms Eddolls, who is the rough sleeper manager, said: "We'll come across somebody - not every time - and they're really receptive.

"It might be their first night out and they're really keen for the support and they want us to tell them where to go and signpost them.

"Other times it takes a long time to build trust."

She added: "They don't trust the people closest to them, let alone strangers, so we have to go out again and again and again before they can even build that relationship with us."

Ms Davison, who also has personal experience of rough sleeping, said: "Sometimes that trust is broken and rebuilt over multiple times.

"Some of the individuals we come across we've known for an awful long time."