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Tucked away in a relatively quiet corner of Leeds city centre is a small community of homeless people.

Dozens of people have set up tents on frosty ground at the edge of International Pool Car Park, just off Little Queen Street, to form a settlement which has been dubbed 'Tent Village'.

It started out as handful of tents, but there are now more than 20 and the settlement is growing by the day, as people who feel like they have nowhere else to go continue to arrive.

There is no running water, electricity, or much in the way of heating, but there are a small team of volunteers from Homeless Leeds Support Group who hand out clothing, sleeping bags, meals and hot drinks.

Their efforts make things more bearable for the residents of Tent Village, but you will struggle to find someone who is happy to call this place home.

One man known only as Bernard, who bedded down in the camp after leaving prison and struggling to find somewhere to live, said: "It's sh*t. It's horrible. It's freezing.

"There's a lot of support and all that, but there's only so much people can do. I'm in a tent and I wake up in the morning and it's full of ice cubes.

"I get a brand new sleeping bag at night and I wake up in morning and I've got to get another one, because it's soaking wet."

Asked what he would do without Tent Village and the volunteers, he said "I'd be paggered. I'd have nowhere to sleep.

"Last night, we would have been sleeping in town and waking up this morning in a sleeping bag full of white [snow].

"But I came up here and these dudes here [volunteers] pitched a tent for me and my mate and made us feel welcome. I was surprised to be honest, I have been up here before but it's not been like this.

"Now there's food, hot drinks, there's everything and it helps in a massive way."

"Word is getting out there."

He added: "Word is getting out there, people know this is available and relatively new. A lot of people are getting together and helping and supporting.

"Look at these tents here, they are full of warm clothes and warm stuff like that. It's never been like this before and people want to come up here and get warm."

The car park was home to a similar settlement for six weeks in 2016, when a court allowed a group of rough sleepers to pitch tents there, after they were ordered to move from outside Leeds Art Gallery.

They had decided to set up around 60 tents outside the gallery as part of a protest over Leeds City Council's treatment of homeless people.

The council says it is now keeping a close eye on the expanding Tent Village, but insists that no one needs to be sleeping there.

A council spokesman said: "We are actively working with partners including West Yorkshire Police to liaise with the organisers and other members of our community who are present.

“We are emphasising the level of support already available in Leeds, which means no person needs to sleep rough and providing every opportunity for people to avail themselves of these facilities.

“We are concerned if those involved, although well intentioned, divert people from making use of the range of support already available in the city.

"We want to ensure that nobody is sleeping in tents, particularly in this cold weather, and are encouraging the organisers to work with us to provide help to those who need it."

The council has every right to be concerned about people sleeping rough, especially after seeing five people lose their lives on the streets of Leeds in the last two years, including Jason Wager,Jeffrey Hepburn and Fiona Watson.

There has also been a stark increase in the number of homeless people being admitted to accident and emergency departments in the city.

However, David Hedley, founder of Homeless Leeds Support Group, says his volunteers are working to protect rough sleepers.

He said: "It's not a demonstration, it's a humanitarian aid camp that we have set up down here, to give help and support to lads that are constantly on the streets.

"It's a homeless community. People are coming down here, they see what's happening and they feel safety in numbers.

"The aim of this place is to provide humanitarian aid and get people into housing and hostels.

"The services are there, we know that,but it's a matter of getting them to engage, because a lot of them won't engage after being let down.

"Basically, we are trying to get people into housing and accomodation."

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