Cambridge Support Services Providing Hope – John’s Story Part 1

Brief Background Description: My name is John (a white male in my early 40’s) and I am currently a rough sleeper in Cambridge. I am not an alcoholic. I am not a drug addict (illicit or otherwise). I am not a gambler. I have a clean criminal record. I have sound mental health. I arrived back to my county (and city) of birth in England late last year to reconnect with my extended family as well as honour my family’s wishes for me to return to my home country. I have been educated to Bachelor Degree level. I was informed Cambridge city is a very expensive city to live in, but it is better to arrive in England, connect with my extended relatives and talk with the locals than to search online due to the sheer volume of disinformation.

When I arrived in Cambridge, I did not know my direct next steps. I was advised to contact the Citizens’ Advice Bureau, explain my situation and follow their advice, which I did, and, it has led to me where I am today. Essentially, I was advised to liaise and seek support from several stakeholders, including the Cambridge City Council, Wintercomfort and Street Outreach. Since my arrival last year, with the help of these stakeholders as well as the Cambridge Access Surgery, here are some notable achievements I have made:

• Registered with the Cambridge Access Surgery (CAS)
• Confirmed I had no National Insurance Number and applied and obtained a National Insurance Number
• Confirmed my old NHS number on my birth certificate was archived by the British government in the mid 90s and with the assistance of the CAS, applied for and obtained a new NHS number
• Had several GP appointments, including general check-ups and appointments for personal medical reasons
• Renewed my British Passport and obtained a National ID card
• Applied for and received a Statement of Comparability ( to show what my qualifications are equal to )
• Got permission to camp on church property
• Identified where key extended local resources in the community were to help rough sleepers, including various churches, libraries, shops, local police/fire station and the local hospital
• Opened a bank account and applied for UC
• Got temporarily housed via the SWEP protocol
• Introduced myself to many different people from different parts of the community

I have my own personal goals I am trying to achieve to help myself with social mobility and improve my personal housing situation. I am currently looking for employment with an empathetic employer that understands what skills, talents, abilities and qualifications I can offer in their workplace whilst also proactively considering my current rough sleeping situation.
To assist with this, I regularly attend monthly Co-Production and Employment meetings hosted by the Changing Futures Initiative. This generally includes other functional stakeholders from within the Cambridgeshire community, such as the local vicar for homelessness, council/government representatives etc.

My average day consists of waking up, packing up my tent, safely discarding my rubbish, commuting to relatives, storing my sleeping items, sometimes retrieving items I need for the day, then walking about 25 minutes on a dry day to Wintercomfort. Once I am at Wintercomfort, I must wait until 8:30am for it to open to access essential services. When it opens, I greet the reception and door staff, give my powerbank to reception to charge, take my water bottle, toiletry bag and clothes for the day out of my bag and place my bag in either a locker or in a designated storage area. I then request/receive a breakfast ticket required to exchange for a cooked breakfast. Once I am inside in the main hall/dining area, I then either make myself a morning coffee, drink my coffee and have some initial breakfast, grab some towels and go into the shower or go straight into the shower. Generally, I try to go into the shower with the built-in toilet so I may use the toilet as well. Then I proceed to go to the toilet, shave, clean my teeth, shower, get redressed and leave the bathroom as close to how I found it for the next rough sleeper or homeless person. By this time, it can be 9-9:15am, depending on how busy it is, how tired/awake I am, how hot the water is etc.

Generally, after this, I return my items, like my toiletries to my bag in reception and then return to the main dining area to stand in the queue for the warm cooked meal. After sitting down and eating, I put my used plate, cutlery and sometimes a cup as well in the designated kitchen trolley for cleaning and I thank the kitchen staff for the meal I was given. I always try to be polite and respectful to the Wintercomfort staff thanking them for whatever they do as I know they are very busy and I know that they are dealing with many different types of people with different personal circumstances.

After this, generally between 9:30-10am, I will generally look at the notice board to see what support organisations are coming in to the office today, talk with the staff to update them and request anything I might need for the day (including speaking with any support staff) and sit down and read and reply to my emails. I always endeavour to reply to my emails within 24-48 hours, since so many factors affect rough sleeping (bearing in mind my powerbank is still charging and that my mobile phone battery may be depleting and also require charging).

I have had a rich variety of experiences that have ranged from extremely pleasant because they were helpful to extremely frustrating because they were extremely unhelpful and some were, in fact, detrimentally harmful to my overall progress. One extremely pleasant experience has been interacting and dealing with the Street Outreach team, such as Guy, Vanessa, Tara etc., and, Jamie Hilton, who, patiently and skilfully navigated my complex social situation to successfully re-establish a local connection within my county and city of birth: Cambridge City. This was particularly challenging because I did not have any direct relatives, such as parents, siblings or offspring living within Cambridge, so I was not eligible for a local connection. Subsequently, Jamie applied for an exemption on the basis I had returned to the UK, specifically, Cambridge to start my life afresh after my fathers’ passing. Jamie’s application was a success and I received a local connection that permitted me to stay in a local SWEP based hostel throughout the course of Winter (November 2024 to March 2025). Because of his efforts, I felt an improvement in my morale with respect to my personal situation, since having a local connection to my home community offered me hope.

To read more of John’s story, check out the Employment pillar.

The Cambridge Homelessness Charter is planning work to build on the excellent work that is already going on in Cambridge, specifically to improve housing options and support for people on their journey out of homelessness. Sign up to join us.