Charity Claims Number of Rough Sleepers Is Up By 80%

A Notts homelessness charity claims it has seen an 80 per cent increase in the number of rough sleepers in the last year. Between July and September this year, Framework's Rough Sleeper Outreach Team worked with 103 rough sleepers, compared to just 57 in the same period last year. In a bid to help raise cash and awareness of the problem, the charity is urging residents to sleep rough for one night this Thursday (10 November). Hundreds of people are expected to set up temporary homes of cardboard boxes outside the Capital FM Arena as part of the Framework Big Sleep Out. Peter Radage, the charity's service director for homelessness, said: "Reductions to our funding, combined with rising private sector rents, service closures, benefit cuts and the continued economic gloom have dented our ability to help the most vulnerable, so we need help more than ever before. We hope the public will respond by sleeping out, so others don't have to." Read more on the Evening Post website.