Last week, a member of our community got in touch with our team through our homelessness helpline and told us about a young woman, Sara, they had seen sleeping rough in one of the suburbs of Wycombe.

Sara had been told to leave her home. She was cold, wet through, hadn’t eaten for days and simply didn’t know where to turn for help.

Thankfully, Sara was told to turn to us.

Within a few hours, she was at our Support Centre, being given hot food and dry clothes by our team.

We decided Sara was far too vulnerable to go back out on the street to wait to be ‘verified’. That’s the process of needing to be actually seen sleeping on the street in order to qualify for emergency accommodation. We didn’t think she should spend one more night on the street.

We paid for Sara to be in a hotel for a few nights, to get dry and warm, and to get some sleep. We made sure she had food and toiletries and we booked her in for a health checkup with one of the GP surgeries we work with. During those few nights, we helped her look through her options and work out how she could find a home for good.

It’s not easy. There isn’t a lot of affordable accommodation, let alone enough places in supported or temporary living facilities. But we will walk with Sara for as long as she needs us.