King’s Lynn Night Shelter team call on community to keep eye on homeless after death of former guest

The co-ordinator of Lynn’s night shelter has called on the community to keep an eye on those who might be homeless and needing help – as the charity reported that one of its former guests had died.

King’s Lynn Night Shelter said, in a post on Facebook, that Monday had been a “sad day” following the news.

“We had welcomed and cared for him at the Night Shelter on and off for three years, he was a kind and gentle man who made it easy for us to see the value of the individuals who come to the Night Shelter for help,” the post added.

The team said that it had now lost 13 former guests in the last year.

“It is not easy to work with very vulnerable people. The life expectancy for rough sleepers in the UK is 45 for men and 41 for women, according to the most recent statistics from Shelter… so it’s no surprise that many of our guests at the Night Shelter come to us with significant health problems and care and support needs, and that we’ve now lost 13 former guests since just last Christmas,” it added.

“It is not easy to lose them - and it’s right that we should be shocked at these numbers, and sad, and ask what we could all do differently.”

The shelter, which is based at St John's House on Blackfriars Road, launched a crowdfunding appeal in October after the Government turned down a bid for vital money.

Its co-ordinator Lucy McKitterick said, while she could not offer more information about the person who died, she said he was not sleeping rough.

However, she said that rough sleeping was “dangerous and traumatic at any time of year”.

“It makes people more vulnerable, it makes everything else more difficult, and the longer it continues, the harder it can be to escape,” she said.

“The cold winter weather is an additional concern as people struggle to keep warm - at the Night Shelter we sometimes meet people who have spent the night walking around as it is too cold to lie down and sleep.”

Ms McKitterick said the shelter also sees people every week who self-refer with nowhere else to go.

“Some of them will be sleeping rough, visibly, in a tent or a doorway. Others are what are sometimes called ‘hidden homeless’ – they might be staying in a vehicle, or a shed, or an empty property – we've met people sleeping in a cupboard in the foyer of a block of flats near us, a shed on a local allotment site, a car,” she said.

“Or they might be spending odd nights with friends ‘sofa surfing’, and other nights just out – we ask everyone who comes to us where they slept last night, and sometimes the answer is nowhere really at all.

“It's difficult because traditional Government and local authority ‘rough sleeper counts’ focus on people bedded down for the night, but we also see people who might not have bedded down anywhere at all.”

Ms McKitterick urged residents to look out for people who might be in need of support.

“It's so important in the winter especially for the community to keep an eye on who might be homeless and needing help.

“We will always do what we can if people come to the Night Shelter - if we can't offer a bed, we will give them a hot drink and something to eat and call the borough council's out of hours service [on 01553 616601].

“Anyone can also contact the council directly, or use their Streetlink service to report a rough sleeper - it all helps get help sooner rather than later.

“We continue to be very grateful to our community for their warm support helping us keep the Night Shelter open this winter.”