SOME OF OUR CLIENT'S STORIES
We arrange and pay for bed and breakfast, one night at a time, for clients who have been referred to us by our voluntary sector partner agencies.
The average length of stay is only two nights, but this gives both client and agency a bit of breathing space and time to seek other solutions. In particularly complex cases, we are able to offer more than two nights.
Here are some of our client's stories, showing how StopGap has helped them.
Tomas
Someone from the council called us to explain there was a male sleeping rough outside the council building. We went to find them and met Tomas. Tomas is Hungarian and came to England in June to try and find work. He originally flew into Manchester but came to Sheffield with the promise of a job. When he got here, there wasn’t any employment for him. He started to rough sleep. He didn’t speak much English so we got him assessed by the council over the phone with a translator. Unfortunately as he had no settled status here, the council could not place him. At this point, Tomas had had enough and wanted to go back home. We explained that we were able to pay for him to fly back, but we needed evidence he had somewhere to stay when he was over there. We placed him in stop gap for around a week. This gave him time to gather his thoughts and get back in touch with family. His family were happy to have him back. We searched for a flight from Manchester, paid for his train ticket to the airport and a flight back home. He stayed in Stop Gap until the morning of his flight. He was really grateful and he is now safely back in Hungary with family.
Paul
Paul came to Sheffield from Loughborough. He turned up at the Cathedral Archer Project in desperate need of a room. He explained that there was a place for him in rehab but not for a few days. Sheffield City Council were unable to place Paul due to his local connection; he had not spent enough time in Sheffield. Framework telephoned the rehabilitation centre, confirmed he had a place and then were able to place Paul in Stop Gap for a few days until this place became available. This enabled Framework to prevent Paul from rough sleeping. After Stop Gap, they helped Paul get to the rehabilitation centre. He was very thankful for his place at Stop Gap.
Zahra
Framework received a telephone referral for someone who was going to be roofless from
the City of Sanctuary. Framework went to go and meet them to see if they could help.
Zahra was originally from Iran. She moved to England and claimed asylum. Whilst she was
seeking asylum, she was provided with accommodation in Sheffield. Once she was granted
leave to remain in the UK, her accommodation was no longer valid and she was made
homeless.
She had spoken to Sheffield City Council and although they could help her look for
accommodation in the long term, they could not look at temporary accommodation for her.
This was because Zahra was not considered to have any significant mental health or physical
health so did not qualify for temporary accommodation. As she had no family in the UK she
had nowhere else to go.
Using the new Stop Gap Hotel Pilot, Framework was able to book Zahra into a hotel for a
maximum of three nights. During this time, Framework could look at options for her. After
two nights in the hotel, Zahra moved into St Wilfrid’s supported accommodation. This is a
great outcome for Zahra thanks to the Stop Gap Hotel Pilot.
Client A was found rough sleeping by the Street Outreach team on 23/10/24. Client A had recently had a caesarean section but the baby was stillborn. The pregnancy was the result of sexual assault and so her husband had asked her to leave the marital home. Children and families social care who had been supporting Client A prior to her C-section was no longer involved as the baby had not survived birth.
The council were unclear if they had a duty to house due to complications around her immigration status and around whether she was homeless due to a possible right to return to the marital home.
The client had suffered significant trauma in the months prior to her rough sleeping and due the recent major surgery of a C-Section Client A was at significant risk of both mental and physical harm while on the streets
Stopgap funding meant that the Street Outreach team could accommodate this woman in a safe place while further investigations were undertaken. It also helped gain Client A's trust so Street Outreach were able to support her to seek medical care for an infection of her surgical wound. Client A was admitted to hospital for treatment from the Stopgap placement and on leaving hospital was able to be placed under discretionary Rough Sleeper Initiative funding.
These are just some of the examples of our client success stories- there are so many other similar cases.