BEHIND the front door of a home in Trowbridge is a team dedicated to helping people get off the streets and end the cycle of homelessness.

The rough sleeper Winter Provision house has a fully stocked kitchen, bathrooms and nine cosy bedrooms, for rough sleepers to come and stay overnight.

The local community have welcomed the scheme and neighbours even cooked Christmas dinner for people staying there over the festive period.

Wiltshire Council secured £312,245 from the national Rough Sleepers initiative to open up the winter provision in Trowbridge, as well as at Unity House in Chippenham and beds at Alabare in Salisbury.

Since opening in December, 14 people have stayed in the basic but homely accommodation, cooking and cleaning for themselves and often staying for between two to three weeks. Seven have since broken the cycle of homelessness and moved on to more permanent rental accommodation. The team have a zero drugs policy within the homes to keep the users and staff safe. Often drug and alcohol abuse has played a part in their homelessness.

Martin Adrey is an outreach/ inreach worker who spends his days getting to know people on the streets and building up a relationship of trust. He said: “People don’t expect to see someone from the council wearing jeans and hoody but it breaks down the barrier and when I sit down beside them they start to feel they can open up to me."

“Trust is a big thing. If they trust me then they will tell me their story and then I can help them.

“If I see someone out I might approach them and they might not want to engage with me. However, with the severe weather I have been more persuasive to try to get them to work with us.

“If they do not want help I will leave them but if I see them again I will say Hi and show that respect for their choices. In the future they might then want to engage and it is about showing that the help is there.”

In Wiltshire the Severe Weather Emergency Protocol has already been activated twice in 2019, as temperatures plummeted below 0 degrees. During this time outreach workers used information given by the public to find rough sleepers and offer emergency overnight accommodation.

Jon Beasley of charity Alabare was shocked when it was discovered that around 600 people died across the country in 2017 while rough sleeping. He said: “They are on the cusp of contemplating change and that is where the work we do comes in. Some of these people are not at the point where they want to break the cycle of homelessness but coming here for a few days is safe for them."

“When you see these people and the way they come in, many are dependent on drugs or alcohol because they provide a relationship and it is that relationship that is missing.

“One young man came in and was a state but in a matter of days he had begun to groom himself and looked totally different.”

Food donated and given by local food banks line the cupboards in the kitchen and a team of out reach workers, one with a specialism in mental health, have been recruited to support those using the service.

Cabinet member for housing, Cllr Richard Clewer said: “This is just one of many ways that we are helping people including work so that they never are in a position that they sleep rough.

“I think the Government is foolish to say that we will eradicate homelessness by 2027 because some people will always choose to sleep rough, however we have put the support in place that for anyone who wants to stop sleeping rough that help is readily available.”