Out with Bradford's homeless outreach team

The homeless outreach partnership, also known as HOP, are working every day from the early morning into the night.

Their mission is to get people into warm beds in temporary or long-term accommodation - but sometimes it is not that simple. 

Today, their job could be reminding a rough sleeper that support is ready when they are, or calling in an outreach paramedic to check any health issues.

Compassion is at the heart of the HOP, a team of 12 professionals including drug and alcohol workers, mental health and complex needs workers, and specialists in housing options.

Clare and Laur head out on a misty cold morning in Bradford (Image: Newsquest) Before most people are even waking up for work on this grim Bradford morning, team coordinator Clare Flannigan and housing options officer Laur Doyle are plotting the best routes to connect with the city’s homeless population.

They know names, they know who moves their tent around regularly, and they even know different people's stories.

“Good morning,” Clare says softly to a woman who has slept next to a hotel car park in the city centre.

Clare and Laur speak with a woman who is currently homeless (Image: Newsquest) She was helped into accommodation for a short amount of time but is now back on the street.

As we drive to another location, Clare says: “She has had accommodation quite a few times but she’s refusing to leave the city centre, so it’s really hard to coordinate space that fits what she wants. It’s what she knows, she knows people here, services are around, people want to be near what we know. She’s entrenched.

“You can incentivise it and support them but - if they’re not ready at that time - they’re not ready.”

Laur added: “With the winter, a lot of them have been used to the cold weather progressively, so they’ve been on the street for weeks, months, then they get offered a bed, go back to the streets and that de-acclimatised them. It’s probably easier for them to stick with it rather than having one or two days of a warm comfy bed.”

The team refuses to give up, meaning regular welfare checks are the best available option right now.

Laur Doyle, pictured (Image: Newsquest) Laur said: “A lot of clients have failed once, twice, three times, four times, and the fifth time something falls into place and they change their lives. 

“Despite years of experience between the outreach team, we still can’t recognise when that happens. We never give up.”

Bradford Council’s approach to tackling homelessness has changed in recent years, with the HOP forming in 2019. It is a council-commissioned service delivered by Horton Housing.

As Clare and Laur visit 15 stops listed for the morning shift, it becomes clear this step is the beginning of a long journey.

The HOP team look to find someone to speak to following a recurring report of a tent on Leeds Road (Image: Newsquest) We search around Barkerend Mills, Shipley train station, bushes on a residential street, scrapped cars - where someone may have climbed inside the vehicle to shelter for the night - and wooded areas next to a beck.

There was a recurring report of tent on Leeds Road and the team attempted to reconnect with the person staying there.

Some people who sleep rough may not want to be found, leaving the duo on the hunt for clues like crushed down grass, rubbish, and steam on car windows.

Just recently their colleague, Ricky, found someone through the sound of a lighter clicking behind a bush. 

Laur and Clare look for someone reported as sleeping in a tent in a wooded area (Image: Newsquest) Among the homelessness services available is Horton Housing’s Fairmount Project, a hostel with self-contained accommodation launched three years ago.

Laur said: “They give them their own self-contained accommodation with 24 hour support staff and have an ethos that the clients coming from the streets cannot be expected to change or abide by the rules within a few months or even a year. There’s really a different approach trying to work for the client rather than the client trying to fit into the provider.

“That system seems to have reduced the amount of evictions and revolving doors. When the client feels they belong the work can start.

“Our clients are the typical trauma victim with massive abandonment issues. They will be challenging in order to reinforce their belief they are not being helped and will get let down. With other providers they will challenge the rules, push the boundaries, and get evicted. In Fairmount, they’re still there. After a while the clients realise they’ve pushed as much as they could and they still care. That’s when finally you can see a real difference in the dynamic, the client is now feeling safe and can start addressing those issues.”

The HOP team look around Barkerend Mills following a report (Image: Newsquest) Fairmount has brought joy back to people’s lives over a number of years - including helping one man who refused to leave his room into mental health support and driving lessons.

One man said staying at Fairmount was the first time he’d ever woken up and felt safe.

Another rough sleeper, who had a mental health crisis and went mute, eventually regained his voice and reconnected with his daughter.

Barkerend Mills was one of the sites where the HOP team visits (Image: T&A) Clare said: “It’s the nurturing side like ‘we understand you’ve just shouted at me or called me this, however there’s something deeper going on, what’s happened?’. They take that time.

“It’s tough, challenging - massively rewarding a lot of the time.”

More than 50 rough sleepers across the Bradford district have been supported into secure accommodation directly by the HOP team so far this year.

In the more immediate term, the team has helped many more into temporary or emergency accommodation while they are supported further, totalling 120 people this year.