Jim was born and bred in Bristol and is proud of the city he grew up in and where, until recently, he worked as a chef. But just now he is angry at the place. “I’m feeling unwelcome in my own town,” he said. “I feel I’ve been failed by the system.”

Over the past few weeks, Jim has been sleeping rough on the dockside after he had to move out of his sister’s flat. “It has been cold but you wrap yourself up in your sleeping bag and get on with it. If you get too chilly you get up and have a walk.”

Jim (not his real name) had found a cosy, tucked away, spot near a housing association block. “But the caretaker chased me away. He made it perfectly clear he did not want me there.”

Tackling homelessness is one of the priorities of the city’s Labour mayor, Marvin Rees, and the first focus of his newly minted “City Office”, which is designed to bring together agencies and prominent figures to target key issues.

Last month’s official rough sleeper count found 74 people on the streets, but the city council accepts the actual figure is bound to be higher than that. Outreach workers for the homelessness charity St Mungo’s work with more than 1,000 people in Bristol a year.



Rees describes Bristol as an “unequal” city. Its success is part of the problem. A strong economy and its attractiveness as a place to live have led to soaring property prices and rents. It means at the lower end, people are struggling to get on the housing ladder or pay rental costs.

Jim, 31, was living with his sister until she decided to cut her costs and move in with another sibling. Because he was on a zero-hours contract as a chef and so had – in the eyes of landlords and agencies – no steady income he could not find a place to live.

The mayor of Bristol, Marvin Rees (right) at a church hall in the city talking to homeless man Emile (left) from Chad with Jonathan Lee of Crisis Centre Ministries. Photograph: Adrian Sherratt/The Guardian

He began sleeping rough, which meant he could not keep his chef’s whites clean and had nowhere to store his knives and has not worked since. He cannot afford to rent privately but does not qualify for council accommodation. “I’m between a rock and hard place.”

On Tuesday night he did have a roof over his head: he bedded down on inflatable mattresses in a church hall in the Clifton area of the city with eight other homeless men after being fed a turkey dinner by volunteers.

His companions for the night were a mixed bunch. One was from Bulgaria, a second from central Africa. The oldest was 74, the youngest in his 20s. One, in his 50s, had slept in the church doorway for six months before making it inside. Before turning in, the guests were given a chance to watch DVDs, play games or simply chat.

Most of their stories were familiar. They had found themselves sleeping rough after family breakdowns or because they had debt problems, unstable incomes or been priced out by landlords. They all happened to be men, though arrangements were in place for female guests too. The number of women who are homeless has risen slightly in Bristol to just under 25%.

Emile, 38, from Chad, told how he became stranded in the UK after his papers were stolen. He has spent months sleeping at a night shelter but has to start queuing at 4pm to guarantee his place. The shelter does not open until 9.30pm. “It is tough. Because I don’t have papers I can’t work, I can’t leave the UK. I’m trapped.”

This church hall in Clifton is among seven being opened up over four weeks, one of a raft of initiatives in Bristol. Another is the City Office’s challenge for 100 extra beds to be provided in 100 days. It was launched on 1 January and so far 33 extra beds have been found by social landlords.

Rees is determined to tackle the situation. He was at the church hall on Tuesday to speak to volunteers and guests. “This is about the city rallying to take on the challenge,” he said. “No one who has the ability to take up help should have to spend the night on the street.”

He is looking at how other agencies involved in mental health, substance abuse issues, debt advice, money management and relationship reconciliation can work as one.

“And this is only one part of a spectrum of activity. We’re committed to building homes, making compulsory purchase orders on empty buildings, unlocking the plots of land that have planning permission but nothing has gone ahead. We are trying to deal with the deeper structural issues around the housing crisis in Bristol.”

The situation is difficult but the mood at the Clifton church hall night shelter was not grim. “They’re a good bunch,” said Jim. “Lights go out at 11pm but there’s still a fair amount of talking and giggling. I’ve met some good people here so it’s not all bad.”