EXCLUSIVE: Bristol family forced onto streets by cost of living crisis
We've been hearing just how hard rising costs have been hitting people across the west country
We can exclusively reveal that a Bristol family of four was recently found living in a tent in Castle Park, because they could no longer afford their rent.
As the cost of living crisis continues to escalate, with interest rates just hiked again we've been speaking to homeless charities to find out how their work is being impacted.
A conversation with Jasper Thompson, the chief executive of Helping Bristol's Homeless, revealed a shocking story.
"Only last week a family came to me, we often get families who say they can't afford to live, but this actual family was living on Castle Green (Park) in a tent, with two young children and a mother and a grandmother," he said.
"The place where they were living, they couldn't afford the rent, they were working and they still couldn't afford it.
"It was quite sad really.
"We had to get further intervention on that one."
Thankfully Jasper told us that family was quickly found temporary accommodation, but he added his charity has seen "a dramatic increase" in 2022 of people asking for help.
"I think throughout the winter period it's going to get progressively worse," he said.
How things have changed post covid
Homeless charities like Jasper's report having seen a hike in people needing help during the coronavirus pandemic as many lost their jobs or were placed on long term furlough, but in his words, the issue has "ramped up again".
"The cost of living at this present time is having an impact on working families, normal families and it's trickled down to the homeless because where they were able to stay in accommodation and maybe find top up for the rent, they're struggling to get jobs to do that now.
"People are losing their flats.
"This week again we had a young man come into us, he's struggling to pay his electric bill to the point where he needs to move out of that accommodation and find somewhere else that he can live as well as pay his bills."
People rallying together?
As well as Helping Bristol's Homeless, we have also spoken to another charity BillyChip, which primarily operates across Bristol and Bath but recently expanded into London as well.
BillyChip allows people to buy tokens from participating food and drinks shops, which they can then give to homeless people to exchange for something to eat or drink.
Megan Abernethy-Hope is one of the co-founders.
"Other people have almost kind of become more generous," she said.
"I think, although I understand that people in a certain sense need to be more selfish with their money and more focussed with their money, a lot more people are now a lot closer to that bread line than they have ever been before.
"They understand that we are one, two pay cheques, or not getting those pay cheques away from being in a really tricky and difficult position.
"And so, because of that the level of compassion from people who have joined the scheme, that are part of the scheme or want to join the scheme, we have noticed an increase.
"I popped into Bath today, popped into a few places and they said, 'with everything going on right now, we understand that basically the government isn't going to look after us and we need to look after each other.'"
What is being done about it?
At the end of 2021 the government announced it was making ÂŁ316 million available through Homelessness Prevention Grants, to try and stop people ending up on the streets.
Supplied through local councils, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities said at the time that the money would help people find new homes, access support for unexpected evictions and secure temporary accommodation where needed.
"This underlines the government’s commitment to ensure people at risk of becoming homeless, across the country, get help more quickly," a statement from the government, published at the time, reads.
"Since the Homelessness Reduction Act came into force in 2018, over 400,000 households have been successfully prevented from losing their homes or supported into settled accommodation, with rough sleeping levels falling 37% between 2019 and 2020."
We asked Bristol City Council for a comment and are still awaiting a formal response, but we were pointed towards a blog recently written by the council cabinet member for Housing Tom Renhard, in which he said there were nearly 18,000 households on the waiting list for social housing.
In fact, that figure has now risen to more than 19,000.
Councillor Renhard labelled the level of rent in the city as a key cause.
"Over the past decade the cost of renting in the city grew by 52%, whilst wages only increased by 24% over the same period and current levels of inflation are far outstripping any growth in income," he wrote.
"The spiralling costs mean housing is becoming increasingly unaffordable, pushing many further away from their place of work, family, and support networks, impacting across sectors and low and middle income households."
The council has created a Living Rent Commission which aims to improve the affordability of renting in the city, but a community renters union called ACORN is not included, which caused a protest on the issue in September.